Crossed Swords
by thebeagle
Summary: June's curiosity really gets her on the wrong track as she ends up helping out what she thought was a man. Being just a normal girl, suddenly realizing that there's more to the city than what the eye meets, she struggles to figure out Raphael, but also deals with her own inner battles. Is it weird to like a mutant turtle? Full summary inside. RaphaelxOC
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: June's curiosity really gets her this time as she ends up helping out what she thought was a man. Being just a normal girl, suddenly realizing that there's more to the city than what the eye meets, she struggles to figure out Raphael, but also deals with her own inner battles. Is it weird to like a mutant turtle? Is there something wrong with her?! Why does she even like the one turtle that seems to dislike her the most? No boys in her age is like him though, so she sets in to figure out Raphael. Will he ever give into her? Find out!_

_note: this story is based on the teenage mutant ninja turtle 2012, but slightly more uncensored and a few years ahead when they're older. Enjoy :)_

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**Chapter ****1**

Music played as a background noise when I put my laptop on the bed. Noises from outside had disturbed my peaceful, late night, studying. Okay maybe I'd ben lost for a while on Facebook and youtube, but the weekend had just started. Plenty of time to do homework. I moved through the small house and to my backdoor to peep outside. There is nothing worse than going around in your own house and being scared! Frankly that was why I'd always liked to keep in shape. Not because I was a paranoid, frail girl, but because i liked the feeling of trusting my body, knowing that it can run long distances or lift me off the edge of cliff... Well, i guess that does sound a bit paranoid, but i prefer to think of it as being prepared. I'm not the cool, survivor kind of girl, although i did take karate lessons once or twice. It never really seemed to take me by storm, and also karate around these parts are too westernized! The only place you learn real karate is in Japan where it was invented and on top of that one should probably choose kung-fu where all the asian martial arts originated.

Moving on; I wondered about the noises outside, but couldn't see past the bushes around my garden. Looking to my left, i watched how my neighbor closed his curtains to the turmoil that was happening at the narrow path behind our gardens. Everything was covered in a thick layer of snow and heavy, feather-like snowflakes still fell from the sky. I guess my curiosity could sometimes cloud my judgement -unlike my neighbor; something i guess my mother had encouraged in me.

It seemed to quiet down outside after a while. I stood up slowly, trying warily to skim anything behind the bushes, but without luck. I then sprinted through the house, up the stairs while skipping a step with each leap I took and bolted in to my mothers bedroom, jumping on her empty bed and looking out the window. Excitement had filled me as a took in the much better view. At first i couldn't see anything due to the heavy snowing and i think the time was about 1 am or so. There were no streetlights behind the row of houses, except for the automated light in the backyard of my right-sided neighbor. The upstairs silence was slowly creeping in on me as my eyes made out a figure laying in the street. Seeping up around my body like a cold hand, the excitement turned into the unmistakable feeling panic and angst. I stared at the figure, hoping he or she would stand up and walk away as my heart began to pump faster. I knew there was no way around the fact that I would have to go out there eventually if no one did. I couldn't just close my curtains like my neighbor or this would haunt me for, who knows how long? Slumping down in the bed I tried to gather my courage. If my mother had been here she would've been out the door this instant.

Unfortunately she wasn't here and she wouldn't be for a time. As a military combat medic she was often away, moving around with mobile field hospitals, or "ambulances volantes". I shook my head and ran downstairs, trying not to think so much. I pulled on a pair of boots, a thick blue winter jacket and grabbed a warm hat on the way to the back door. I stumbled clumsily out the door with my thick layering of clothing, trying hard to suppress the building adrenalin kick. How on earth could I get so worked up? I'd seen much worse in movies and still my heart was beating over such a little thing! The snow cracked loudly under my feet as I went around the bushes and onto the snowy - once graveled - path. This was a quiet neighborhood so the person who lied there in the snow was completely out of place. I started to walk towards him but hesitated at the black figure, afraid that he was some kind of psychopath or serial killer!

My breath came out in short clouds as I assessed the situation, holding my jacket tights into my body, realizing how cold it actually was.

"Are you okay?" I shouted uncertain, tilting my head from the distance, realizing how stupid a question that was.

No answer came. I gave myself a mental nudge and walked forward hoping that my noisy boots would wake him up. I stopped close by him, suddenly feeling light headed and feeling a knew kick of adrenalin rush through me as my eyes tried to take in what it was in front of me. Green skin was the first I tried to comprehend. Yup, a rough green skinned man was laying in the snow, his chest slowly falling and rising. His facial features were humanoid but there was also something reptilian about it... Him? Some kind of chest plate, almost like the plastron on a turtles belly covered his front. A belt was wrapped around the plastron by his waist and he was wearing a red headband. His breathing was heavy and almost painful. That was when i noticed the blending of the white snow and red liquid, oozing out from his side. There I stood, stunned and judgmental even though he obviously was humanoid. If he'd looked like a human I'd been by his side at this very moment... I rushed to his side, mentally slapping myself for being so empty headed. I suppressed every instinct and logic telling me to leave him alone and just leave him to his fait.

"Shit! You're hurt pretty bad." I hissed kneeling down beside him while looking his wounds over quickly.

This seemed to wake him up, and he grabbed me by my collar, instinctively sitting up and throwing me to the ground. I yelped in the process, grabbing the hand holding my collar. His green eyes stared at me intensely, filled with rage and fire. I looked at him startled and shocked, feeling the snow soaking my sweatpants while silence lingered between us. His eyes softened the slightest when he'd looked my face over and then seemed to cringe in pain, falling back on his back once again. I scooted away quickly, darting to me feet, trying futilely to suppress my fears. He groaned, leaning his head backwards while trying to control his breathing.

"I'll call am ambulance." I said, confused by the whole situation, not even sure if he could understand me.

"No! No ambulance!" He bursted out.

"But you-" he cut me off before I could say more.

"Are you kidding me?! Look at me!" He spat, his eyes burning at me like I was the dumbest thing walking on this planet.

He sure was blunt about things, and the fact the he was able to talk made me all the more courageous. But I could see his point and dared to kneel slowly by his side once again. He didn't seem to have any strength and I could see how he fought with the dizziness constantly.

"I'll take you to my house. I can treat you there. My moms a combat medic, she taught me a thing or two." I said, putting on my serious face for once so I would seem convincing.

"You-" he cringed once again, taking in sharp breaths "you want to help me?" He laughed outright, stopped and coughed from the pain his laugh had coursed.

"Well... Yeah!" I said as a matter of fact furrowing my eyebrows at him. I was probably also trying to convince myself.

"I'll be fine. My brothers will come for me. Go home girly." He hissed.

"By that time you'll be dead." I touched his arm lightly and felt how cold he was "you'll freeze to death if not from your wounds."

He didn't flinch but I could see his pride in the frown he made.

"Stay awake." I told him when I saw his eyes flickered in dizziness and exhaustion again.

I could only guess that he couldn't get up on his own and frankly he looked pretty heavy. How on earth I was going to get him inside my house was still a question to me. Also I had surprised myself so much that I didn't even feel scared anymore. I went around him and tried to get my hands under his shoulders when I felt something hard attached to his back.  
Time for questions later I thought, having completely disposed of all common sense at this point.

"I'm going to make you sit up, okay?" I said to him.

I assumed that his nod was a sign that he didn't have the strength to talk back and finally allowed me to help him. I pushed him up, ignoring the cry he gave out in the process. All his weight was against me now, and it was hard to come around to get his arm around my neck so I could support him in the walk.

"Can you get to your feet?" I asked, also trying to keep him awake and focused.

I looked at him, getting a better view of his side profile, all so many questions popping into my mind. Definitely resembles a reptilian, I thought as I watched him struggle to press some words out between those heavy forced breaths he took. I lifted him some more to help him up on his feet, and fought the pity I took in him when his legs shook violently by each attempt to get his legs under himself. I was glad that I'd taken on some boots for the snow, or his sheer weight would've made me look like Bambi on ice.

He finally got to his feet, when we heard voices from afar. Immediately he seemed more alert and he started walking right away, even though it was quite slow. I was already starting to get warm by supporting his weight. He looked determined as we walked forward and for a brief moment I admired his will-power. To push through so many wounds and cold weather was beyond my understanding but something told me that he was used to this. We made it to the door which I'd apparently forgotten to close as he spoke;

"You're out of your mind." He grunted as he took the extra step into my house.

I cocked a skeptical eyebrow at him before all his weight was on me again as he started to slip out of consciousness.

"Stay with me!" I said trying to keep the eye contact we'd had. He couldn't pass out now! Not when we were so close.

I could see how hard he was struggling just to put one foot in front of the other. We both knew that there was no easy way around this. His groggy look became determined again and we continued. My bedroom was the closest and therefore I guided him to my room. He basically collapsed on my bed, seeming to drift out of consciousness as soon as he hit the mattress. I helped his one leg up which dangled over the edge of the bed as my radio was playing an old Britney Spears song, pretty ironic considering the whole situation. I hurried out the room to close and lock my back door, kicking off my boots in the process. I darted through the house, throwing off my jacket and hat. I went to my mothers bedroom and searched her wardrobe frantically for her first aid kid.

Frequently I thought to myself; what the hell was I doing?! I was out of my mind to take in this strange reptile-man who'd been in some kind of fight, and who'd also smacked me to the ground. What on earth was wrong with me? But I guess that my curiosity was constantly kicking in too, telling me that I would be regretting this my whole life if I just dumped him outside again. Apparently I'd just been working out of pure instinct and now there was no turning back! He was downstairs in my bed, I had now found the first aid kid and was in my way downstairs.

I found him exactly where I'd left him. He laid sprawled out on the bed, seeming to breath more normal as he was probably unconscious. I ran to the kitchen to get some hot water, and ran back to him. I tried to stay calm even though, I guess, I was a bit in shock still. I put the kit on the floor and searched for a cloth, feeling clumsy as my hands were shaking the slightest. I took a few pieces and started to stop the bleeding from the gashes where blood was still seeping out. There was one on his right shoulder, one in between the small spaces in his plastron, which I by the way couldn't take off, and one on his thigh. The one behind his plastron was hard to treat, and the gash seemed deeper. I wondered if that was the wound that coursed him so much pain.

I had to constantly apply pressure to the three major wounds as I waited and preyed for them to stop bleeding. It took about 20 minutes for the wounds on the shoulder and leg to stop bleeding and 30 minutes for the bigger one by his plastron. In that time I'd calmed myself down enough to actually study him. First it had occurred to me that he was actually naked. I'd for some strange reason flushed red by the realization even though he didn't seem naked with that plastron attached to him. His feet were simply two thick toes. Likewise was his hands three-fingered. After noticing all the strangeness about him, I noticed how athletic build he was. I wasn't even sure if there was one gram of fat in him.

I redirected my thoughts when the bleeding had stopped, and started to rinse the wounds and scraps with the water. His shoulders were very pronounced and I started to wonder if he was some kind of superior human being. As I rinsed the wound in between the small space by his plastron I saw how the pieces bent and shaped to the muscles underneath. I found myself admiring his body, admiring whatever he was. I guess I was a bit fascinated when I traced my fingers along the plastron by his chest to feel the smooth but scratched up texture.

"You know, I can sense that." He said suddenly.

I snapped my hand away, feeling as if I'd been caught in doing something embarrassing.

"S-sorry. I was just curious." I admitted.

He looked at me out of one eye, laying perfectly still.

"Why're you helping me?" He asked, a frown showing itself. It wasn't an angry frown, but more like a confused one.

Once again he was being pretty blunt, and I actually liked it, even though it made me slightly uncomfortable to answer that question. I started working on the cut on his thigh as I thought about an answer.

"Are you gonna say something or what?" He sounded impatient for my answer, as if he was ready to leave out the door at any moment.

"Umm... Well I couldn't just leave you there!" I said, not sure if i sounded as convincing as I wanted to.

He grumbled dissatisfied, closing his eyes while taking in a deep breath. His lack of gratefulness seemed to get on my nerves. Even though he could've been laying out there in the cold it was like he would prefer that.

"For someone so helpless you sure are confident." I snapped.

I know I'd been the one to push him inside, it was my own choice to help him, and I shouldn't expect happy rainbows and flowers thrown at me for this.

"Touché." He commented.

"Sorry-" I swallowed my pride, moving to his upper body again to clean the smaller scratches -" I didn't mean it like that." I muttered.

I was suddenly glad that the radio was playing silently in the background, as started working on his arms, or the silence would've killed me. I sensed him study me with his eyes, and started to feel my cheeks heat up by his stare.

"Aren't you scared of me?" He asked bluntly after a long moment of silence and staring.

I was glad I could just work on his scratches, keeping myself busy and avoiding his green eyes. But the question caught me a bit off guard and I looked at him in wonder. Well, for someone like him I guess it was a common question.

"Should I be?" I asked, remembering how scared I'd actually been in the beginning. He chuckled briefly and I looked at him, suppressing a playful smirk.

"Stop that! You'll just reopen your wounds." I said, giving him a worried look.

He stopped, almost on command and continued to look at me. He seemed a lot better already. It didn't come as a surprise to me. Reptilians have excellent healing abilities.

"I'm a giant turtle. That should be the first warning in your head." He said.

Of course! He resembled a turtle. I don't know why I hadn't thought about that. It was a shield he had on his back! I squinted my eyes at him in realization. I had so many questions for him that I could barely answer him.

"I thought as much. Well I don't feel scared." I said and stopped cleaning a scrape.

"But I do think that we should take that headband off, it's all wet and cold." I said, reaching nonchalantly to his head.

He grabbed my wrist so fast that I jerked by the sudden pressure on my wrist, and looked to him astonished.

"No. Let it be." He snapped, leading my hand away, his gaze hard and stubborn once again.

I took my hand back, leaning back in place a bit confused. I didn't see the big deal, but apparently it was a touché subject.

"You know, I think I could recognize you even without it." I said. He was pretty easy to spot in a crowd after all.

"It's none of your concern." He said evasively, looking at the ceiling.

I shrugged it off and continued the cleaning. I listened to the song playing in the background, a train of thoughts and questions bombarding me, all the while I was trying to shut them out. I then noticed his smooth collarbones as I worked across them, and once again found myself admiring his physiology. His chest muscles were hard, disappearing beneath the smooth chest-plate. I must've been a sick person for sitting there, starting to fight the blush that crept to my cheeks. I couldn't believe I was actually finding his body attracting. I guess I'd never been around guys or turtle-guys with such a pronounced and fit body.

"I thought you were unconscious when I worked on your wounds. You must have a high threshold of pain." I said, trying futilely to keep my inappropriate thoughts at bay.

"I've tried worse. And you seem to know what you're doing. You're much more gentle and soft handed than my brother who always patches me up." He said nonchalantly, but with a thoughtful smile playing on his lips.

I could've sworn that, I was being a real teenager as the blush I'd been trying to keep away finally surfaced. The 'compliment' wasn't even a real compliment, but the thought of him actually feeling my fingers work on his athletic body was subconsciously doing something to me. I had to hide my blush somehow, it was beyond embarrassing to be blushing at a complete stranger who had been in some kind of cross species genetics experiment. Maybe I was just not as cool as I'd imagined myself to be.

"I uhh... Haven't done this much." I stuttered in my words, turning to the bucket of water and hiding my face behind my hair. I had to get away for a moment.

"I'll just get some more water." I said, grabbing the bucket.

He stopped me once again, this time grabbing my upper arm. I turned instinctively to him in question, a nervous feeling spreading in my body.

"What is it?" He asked, his eyes fierce and hard again. I was a bit unsure of what he meant, and frowned at him.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked, cursing myself for stuttering.

"Don't play dumb! I can see something is wrong, with that face you're pulling." He said, his liquid forest eyes penetrating me, trying futilely, I assumed, to lift the truth straight from my mind.

Frankly I found it quite annoying that he was being so pushy. Why'd he care anyway? He was spending so much time acting as if he didn't need me.

"What're you-" he cut me off bluntly. Apparently I didn't seem very convincing or he was just a tad more aware than what I'd anticipated.

"You are scared of me." He stated, scowling at me, a hint of disappointment flickering across his eyes.

At first I felt a little confused. He'd misread the situation completely! I chuckled at the silliness of the situation, taking my hand to my mouth to cover the muffled laugh. The harshness in his eyes disappeared, replacing it with a confused expression. Obviously he had no clue about my red cheeks and I didn't blame him for it. I removed his hand gently, unfolding the three fingers that was locked around my arm. I took his hand in both of mine and looked at its figure with a smile.

"No. I told you I'm not scared, even though you look different. Well, maybe I was a bit scared at first, but not now." I admitted, feeling the texture of his rough hand.

I looked to him to see his puzzled expression. Apparently I'd taken him a bit off guard too or maybe he was just uncomfortable with me touching his hand. I enjoyed that for moment before he spoke again.

"What is it then?" He pressed on cluelessly.

I sighed inwardly, starting to see no way around him without hurting his feelings. Not that he seemed to care much, but I thought that he perhaps needed some kind words from a stranger. I opened my mouth to say something but closed it again as that nervous feeling started to spread.

"Well, it was just because I... I thought for a moment that, you know-" I lifted my shoulders uncomfortably while trying to press the words out-" that you were quite athletic build and that you were quite fascinating."

I took a clean cloth and started to clean up some scrapes again, trying as much as I could to act unaffected. He was quiet for a moment and it started to make me nervous.

A roar of laughter exploded from him, his chest rising rhythmically.

"Stop laughing already!" I said as blood started to ooze out of the stomach wound.

I sighed, looking at him in that are-you-kidding-me-way and started gathering some cotton to stop the bleeding as he continued laughing.

"Definitely didn't see that one coming." He breathed in between his laughter.

"Guess not." I said, feeling a bit offended that he was laughing at me. He quieted down slowly, finally realizing that his wound was open again.

"Aw look what you make me do." He said, lifting his head to see me cover the wound once again.

"Sorry for throwing a compliment after you! Better not do that again." I muttered sarcastically.

He laid his head back on the bed, tilting it to watch me once again. The look he had, suggested that he was a bit baffled though, as if he couldn't figure out if I was joking.

"Well thanks I guess." He said half-hearted while chuckling too.

It wasn't a thanks I was looking for, and his attitude annoyed me a little bit. He had given me a compliment for my 'treatment' after all.

"You're not that bad yourself." He added reluctantly.

I looked at him, seeing that he was actually being genuine, although he didn't look at me anymore. Guess it was hard for him to be nice to a stranger... Or maybe just a girl. I smirked at his vulnerability;

"What you do know, you are capable of saying something nice." I said.

His eyes darted to mine, and when he saw my smirk his eyes got fiery. I didn't know him at all, but a hunch told me that it was his embarrassed look a saw right now.

"And what's that supposed to mean girly?!" He said, his voice edging towards anger.

"Exactly what it sounds like, greeny." I said, starting find some antibiotic in the first aid kid, avoiding the scowl he was sending my way.

I couldn't fight the smirk that played on my lips, and decided to change the subject before I got him too agitated. The last thing I wanted right now was to start an argument.

"What happened to you anyway?"

The question had been pressing in my mind for a while and finally releasing it was satisfying. He held his scowl for a few more second before relaxing. Actually he looked even more relaxed now than before. He sighed deeply as I applied the antibiotic to his shoulder wound.

"Purple dragons is what happened. I got ambushed in this weird neighborhood. They lured me all the way out here." He answered thoughtfully.

I couldn't believe that I was treating a guy who had a beef with the purple dragons. But then again this guy was such a mystery to me that I was probably just scratching the surface of his life. I didn't want to press him more. He seemed secretive enough as he were, and I could only understand why. But I wanted to ask why they were after him. Telling his whole life story would probably take a whole day.

"I'll have to admit that I'm beyond curious-" I looked at him, pausing my treatment for a moment-" you only have to tell me what you want to. I won't judge you for not telling me anything."

I started to remove the cloth from the stomach wound, seeing that it had stopped bleeding again. I was already done with the wound on his thigh and only needed this last one before I could wrap him up.

"Thanks. That's nice to know." He said sincerely.

I gave him a small smile, seeing that he wasn't going to tell me more about it. I worked on him in silence for a while. I started to bandage him up, feeling my eyes getting tired. I didn't know what time it was, but it was late. I would've stitched up his stomach wound if I could, but it was too hard to manage with the plastron. By admitting my thoughts of his body I didn't feel so affected by his constant staring anymore. Like he was watching everything I did...

"How old are you anyway?" He broke the long silence that had lasted between us, abruptly.

I rubbed my eyes tired, taking the opportunity to take a small pause. I'd just finished wrapping up his stomach wound.

"Just turned 18." I said with a smile, trying as much as I could to hide how tired I was.

"Oh... Then you're older than me." He pondered.

"And how old are you?" I asked, continuing where I left off.

Actually I was a bit surprised by the fact that I was older than him. I hadn't guessed him to be a teenager. Not that he looked old; he looked young but his manner was not like any boy I knew my age.

"I'm 17." He answered.

I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"Well then you're not much younger than me. What about your brother?" I said, finishing the last bandage. He gave me a puzzled look.

"You did mention a brother patching you up." I said, reminding him of why I knew.

He looked reluctant to tell me at first but then seemed to change his mind. I moved on the bed, cleaning up the first aid kid as my work were done.

"I have three brothers. They're all 17. We all hatched at the same time. Well I was second but you get the point." He sounded stranger and stranger as he spoke.

It was like he was realizing how strange it must've sounded to me that he'd hatched from an egg. I chuckled at his expression, it was kind of cute.

" I don't think that anything you say can surprise me anymore." I assured him.

My smile seemed to ease him up, and he smiled back at me. I scooted off of the bed, with the water, fighting yet another blush.

"You better go to sleep." I said before I left the room.

I looked out the kitchen window for a while, watching the snow flying by outside while I tried to empty my mind. The wind was beginning to build outside. What if I'd just become a part of some big secret. Would my mother believe the government when they told her I was killed in a 'car accident'? My eyes were heavy now but I couldn't get myself to go to sleep. I rubbed my temples and decided to check up on the turtle. He was looking at the ceiling when I entered the room, and he tilted his head to look at me when a walked around the bed to lie on the empty side.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" I asked unable to hide my tiredness anymore.

"I'm used to staying up at this hour." He said, watching me as I crawled under my cover, which he was partially laying on. I laid down on my stomach - bless god for not giving me huge boobs - and propped my head up on my pillow to look at the turtle beside me.

"I think you should get some sleep though." He said, seeming to fight a smirk.

Well, I guess my eyes looked pretty worn out by now.

"You don't say." I said, starting look at him thoughtfully.

The undivided attention I suddenly gave him seemed to make him uncomfortable. I could only guess that he didn't know what to do now when there was nothing for either of us to do.

"I've set my alarm two hours ahead so I can change your bandages." I said, trying to make him less uncomfortable.

I was starting to be so tired that I was starting to feel so relaxed and at home with him that I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. I turned to grab the remote for my radio and turned it off, also turning off my lamp and then turning around in the exact same position once again.

"You don't have to do that." He said, his eyes flickering to me and back again.

"I'll do it any way." I said, closing my eyes and taking pleasure in letting the tiredness take over.

"... Are the government going to brainwash me for having been in contact with you?" I asked nonchalantly, opening one eye to see his reaction.

"What?" He asked, sounding startled by the question. He looked at me fully now, his green eyes glowering at me. I kept looking at him, waiting for an answer.

"Are you going to answer or what?" I said, quoting him for earlier when I hadn't answered right away.

"I don't even think the government knows of my existence." He said, with a confused frown.

"Oh..." I replied. Now it was my turn to be a bit confused.

I felt cozy when I listened to the howling wind outside, and was glad that I hadn't left him outside in this weather. We were both silent once again, and I was starting to drift to sleep even though I would've liked to talk to him. I turned away from him, moving to the edge and searched for a blanket for him under the bed.

"A warm blanket will do you good." I said as I pulled up one of the many blankets stuffed under my bed.

I sat up, and unfolded the blanket over him. Obviously he was done protesting, even though he gave me a sour look.

"I seriously think that you should stop worrying and go to sleep." he said, his voice almost demanding like I haven't heard it before.

"Fine!" I said and yawned loudly, slumping down on the bed again and crawling under my covers.

"Thanks though." He said reluctantly.

I laid down on my side, towards him once again, closing my eyes, finally giving in to the tiredness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter ****2**

The buzzing of my iPhone echoed in my ears as I awoke. I was so tired that I could barely turn around to stop the alarm. I'd been sleeping straight through two hours in what seemed like ten minutes. I turned around once I'd stopped my alarm and adjusted my eyes at the turtle beside me. Everything in me screamed for 5 more minutes but I knew that I had to change the bandage. I smiled a little when I saw he was asleep. His breathing had changed and his mouth were slightly open, so there was no mistake that he was asleep. Apparently in a heavy sleep. I sat up and rubbed my eyes and swooped over the first aid kid. He stirred a bit and woke up when I started to unwrap the bandage around his shoulder, but he kept silent. I was enjoying the silence between us. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. It was a lot easier to work on him once he had accepted my help fully. Just the fact that he actually fell asleep beside me, took I as a good sign.

I crawled back under my covers as soon as I was done, making sure to keep a prober distance between us as we were sharing the same bed. Cozy and oddly enough feeling really safe I had no problem falling back to sleep.

I awoke a abruptly by a hand shaking my shoulder rapidly. I tried to slap the hand away and grumbled sourly.

"Girly wake up!" The edge of alertness in his voice woke me up and sat up immediately.

I'd been sleeping so tenderly that the sudden awakening coursed a shock through me. I looked around, noticing that the turtle was sitting up too, looking deadly stiff and alert.

"Wha-" I was about to ask him what was happening when he shushed at me.

I listened to the silence, seeing how he was looking into my room warily. That was when I heard voices outside.

"They've found us." He said simply, rushing off the bed, like his wounds were gone, and dragging me with him.

He walked quickly through the house, me trailing confused and tired behind.

"Your brothers?" I asked, my heart starting to pump faster in adrenalin.

"No, the purple dragons." He said, stopping me by my back door.

"Quick take you shoes on." He commanded, looking around the house as if someone would burst through the wall any minute.

"What's going on?!" I asked, my voice growing higher, a not of hysteria beginning to rise in it, even though I was obeying him without hesitation.

"I should've thought about the trail of blood I left behind when entering your house. Now they now were I fled to." He explained, dragging me along once again as I'd gotten my shoes on.

A wave of despair and fear rushed through me. This would be my death. I'd gotten involved in something I shouldn't! I grabbed my jacket from the floor as he led me into the kitchen. I felt like giving up, accepting that I was going to die, as I stood there behind him, taking on my jacket slowly.

"They've surrounded the house." He stated, looking out the window.

He turned to me, his expressions changing when he saw mine. I must've looked like a ghost. He took me by my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes.

"What's your name?" He asked, his eyes searching my face.

The casual question shook me slightly out of me petrified zone, and I focused at him, stuttering out my name.

"I-it's June." I said.

"Okay, June, these guys will probably not be nice to you when they find you here. Therefore I have to take you with me, okay?" He was speaking very precisely, making sure that I understood what he was saying. I nodded, listening unconditionally to anything he had to say.

"Good. Do as I say and follow me." He dragged me to another kitchen window by the side of the house and opened it roughly.

He looked out the window to both sides, and turned to me again.

"I know this is strange to you, but you have to trust me. It's my turn to save your life." He said, seeming dead serious.

I woke up a bit realizing the situation and nodded determined. If I was lucky, his athletic body wasn't just for show.

"I'll jump out first, you follow."

He looked at me an extra time to make sure I understood. I nodded once again, watching him turn around and jump elegantly out my window. I continued to climb up on the windowsill, the cold from outside hitting my skin and chilling me to the bone.

"Come on." He encouraged holding out both his hands to catch me, even though the jump wasn't very high. Stress was present in his voice.

I let my legs hang over the edge and reached out to accept the support he was offering. His hands were cold already I noted, and jumped down in the thick snow. I landed close to him and he kept holding my hands to steady me.

"It's important that you follow me closely. Try to keep up as best as you can."

He was so intense that I almost forgot to breathe. Breaking our eye contact he left me so quickly that I stood baffled and looked after him as he looked around the corner of the house. I tried to step as silently as he did and rushed up behind him, waiting for whatever he would do next. I followed him when he moved to my neighbors house, moving along the shadow of the roof. Luckily it was still dark, only the snow seemed to be illuminating the streets. I was so embarrassed that such a heavy guy could treat lighter than me. He was almost ninja-like. I almost bumped into his shield when he stopped and looked around himself instinctively.

"We're gonna run for that manhole cover and hide in the sewers."

"Are you serious?!" I whispered.

The sewers had to be the most creepy place he could've chosen for hiding. My common sense started to kick in again, and doubt filled me. Why was I following him so blindly? Not to mention down in the sewers. Was he really trying to save me? Or was he going to eat me?! I looked at him. He seemed so genuine and he had actually been fairly nice to me, everything considered. I shouldn't doubt him now. He shot me a glare, and mentioned me with him. He kept in the shadows of the streetlights and moved silently to the manhole, lifting the cover up effortlessly.

"Go." He whispered hastily almost pushing me in to the hole.

I lifted myself down, and began to climb the cold, wet ladder. He followed after me as soon as there was space enough and closed the cover above us. Darkness consumed me. Only the four small holes in the manhole cover let a little bit of light inside the hole. I kept climbing, trying to keep my mind together. The reality of all this was starting to crawl up on me. I could hear drops of water echoing around me as I entered a large tunnel. A rat squeaked somewhere coursing me to jerk the slightest. I put my foot on the ground, unsure if I was going to set my foot in... Water. I plumped into the filthy water of the sewers. It reached up above my boots. I stepped away from the ladder in order to let the turtle come down.

"Oh god." I squeaked, as felt the water seep into my boots and socks.

I wanted so badly to cry at the moment, and my breath started to quicken when I tried to repress it. The turtle jumped down, laughing to himself, moving through the water like he was used to it.

"We really took them by the nose didn't we?" He said enthusiastically, seeming to be in his own world of entertainment.

A turned my back to him to hide my hyperventilation. There was nothing funny about this situation. I'd been scared as hell. He stopped laughing when he realized that I wasn't joining in on the fun. He moved up behind me to check on me.

"Hey June, relax. It's over now." He said.

I was happy that he didn't make any move to comfort me, but just kept a certain distance between us.

"I know, I just need a minute." I said, suppressing the lump caught in my throat.

Calm yourself down June I repeated to myself over and over. The turtle moved away and seemed to check out the tunnel while I got myself together. It took a few minutes for me, but at last I was enough in control to turn around and move on. When he saw I was somewhat put together again he turned to me;

"I can show the way to Wall Street. Can you find somebody to stay over with from there?" He asked me.

I saw now the pain he was enduring by moving so much around. He still wasn't healed enough and it showed in his body language.

"Wall Street? You're suggesting I pop up from the sewer in the middle of Wall Street?" I didn't hide the skepticism in my voice, and was really starting to feel how cold it was.

"Well then where would you like me to guide you?" He asked, his voice sounding irritated.

He'd been great in taking command when it was needed, but he wasn't good at dealing with his irritation. I guess I couldn't blame him. Not many hours ago could he barely stand, and now he was just suppressing the pain. He was doing a pretty good job at not showing it so far. I felt bad that I'd become such a burden when he obviously wasn't feeling well, but I had no one but him to show me around down here.

"I have a friend not so far from here. She lives on Brighton Avenue." I said.

"Look I don't know every street in New York. I can lead you to a commonly known street, if you can find your way from there." He said, his patience seeming to be running short.

"Can you drop me off at Park Avenue then?" I asked hoping that he knew that one.

"Sure, follow me." He started running almost immediately through the filthy water, and I sat off quickly behind him.

The fact that he wasn't even wearing shoes, chilled me to the bones. Who knew what kind of things you could, find in this water!

"I hope you're in for a run. This is gonna take a while." He yelled as we ran through the dark tunnels.

I was thanking myself over and over for keeping fit. A run from my place to Park Avenue was quiet long and the turtle in front of me blew every stereo typical prejudices I had about turtles. I was glad when we reached an area with a 'side walk' so to call it. That meant that we could run on the bare concrete instead of in the water. We ran for a long time, and I could tell he'd slowed down for my sake. I guess he didn't mind since he was hurt. We ran for what seemed like an eternity but finally he stopped by a high ladder. I stopped too, bending over my knees to catch my breath.

"You're definitely much better at keeping up than what I gave you credit for." He said with a grin on his face. I looked up at him, still catching my breath to see that he was almost unaffected by the run.

"Thanks." I breathed, still bend over and fighting the urge to sit down. I took off my jacket to let some cold inside.

"I'll get going." He said and turned around to leave.

I couldn't believe that this was it. That I'd experienced all of this and now it was just over like that. I felt the urge to go with him, but all logic in me told me to just crawl up the ladder and forget that this ever happened.

"Where're you going?" I asked him. He stopped, and looked at me over his shoulder.

"Home." He said simply and started to walk off again. A slight panic grabbed me, that he was already leaving.

"Well, what's your name?" I shouted to him before he left around a corner. He hesitated in his walk but didn't turn to me.

"Raphael." He called back and disappeared around the corner.

I stood and listened to the silence as he was gone. Something in me was disappointed. The fascination I'd had for him hadn't faded and everything in me screamed to follow him. I sighed and started to climb the ladder but changed my mind quickly. I jumped off, feeling more rebellious than ever and started running again in the direction he'd went. I had to run extra fast if I was going to catch up to him,but still without being detected. I felt so stupid for doing this. The sewers was a warren and I could, easily get lost down here. I ran straight for a while before I could see his figure, and started to run in his rhythm so he wouldn't hear me. At some point he turned a corner and as I neared it I quickly stopped, as he had. He was looking behind himself suspiciously as if he'd sensed me. I hid behind the corner praying that he wouldn't go back. I heard his footsteps move slowly but then set into a run once again. I peeped around the corner, pursuing him once again. I had reached a point where I couldn't feel how tired I was anymore. We ran for what seemed like an eternity again before he turned two sharp corners in a row and I almost lost him.

I could hear robotic voices talking from around the last corner he had turned and I came to a halt. I couldn't make out what they were saying but a hunch told me that this wasn't good. I heard footsteps through the water towards me, and the turt- I mean Raphael, came sprinting around the corner, so fast that I had no time to hide. There I stood dumbfounded as he came towards me almost running me down if I hadn't moved out of the way. He stopped immediately, turning to me in fury and shock. A pang if embarrassment rushed through me as I saw his expression

"What the shell are you doing here?!" He hissed at me, his eyes almost burning a hole in my head.

"I uh..." I couldn't explain my actions very well or justify them for that matter.

His eyes snapped to something behind me and he grabbed my wrist before I could turn around and look. He almost yanked me with him as he started to run. I could barely keep up with his speed, and my legs was starting to ache too. A scream escaped my mouth involuntarily when a purple beam flashed past me.

"I've never met any human as stupid and ignorant as you!" He shouted to me.

I had nothing to say. He was right. I was so stupid that it burned. I took a quick glance behind me and saw the figure of some weird, thin humans. They ran mortifyingly fast and purple light seemed to be the only thing I could see on them. Raphael dragged me around a corner keeping up his fast pace. I wanted to ask him what we were running from, but my breathing was too important at the moment. Another purple flash lit up the tunnels. The beam scorched my free arm, and the pain reached all the way up to my head. I gasped, but kept silent knowing that Raphael was in badder shape than me. This situation was serious and at the moment my adrenalin was keeping me up. We turned another corner.

"Crawl in that tube!" Raphael hissed to me before we came to a halt in front of a small hole with water oozing out.

I did as he said without hesitation, and crawled as fast as I could, before the things would turn the corner. He came behind me quickly as I made my way through the narrow tube almost feeling claustrophobic.

"Stay still!" He whispered.

I stopped immediately, not even daring to exhale. The things footsteps echoed through the sewers. I begged they would run past us, holding my breath even though it was hard with all the running. I listened as their footsteps became clear and then slowly faded once again.

"Go." Raphael whispered, and I obeyed willingly.

I fell into the water of a larger chamber when I reached the end of the tunnel. Daylight was breaking in through a grating, lighting up the chamber. I darted to my feet and out of the cold water, once again fighting with my shivery breath. Raphael came right after me, exiting the tube a bit more gracefully than I. He shot me nasty look and mentioned for me to climb through another tube. Still feeling embarrassed I did as he told, getting a feeling that I would get the scolding of my life when we were safe. I proceeded to crawl through the tube, starting to feel nauseated by everything that had happened. I was going to die down here in the sewers...

I basically somersaulted out of the tube, landing in yet another tunnel. Luckily there was no footsteps to be heard, and I quickly moved out of the way for Raphael. He was still in surviver mode, while I was just starting to go into shock. I almost sighed when I heard running down the tunnel and automatically turned to run. Raphael grabbed my wrist quickly, and looked in the direction of the steps. I looked at him, watching his stern and stiff expression as three figures came into view.

"It's my brothers." He said and let go of my wrist and started walking towards them. I followed him silently, wishing I'd just crawled up on Park Avenue and could sit in the cozy sofa of my best friend, Sophia's, house.

"Where the shell have you been Raph?!" A voice spoke, just before he came close enough for me to see three turtles just like Raphael nearing.

I should've been shocked, but it was like my body was so exhausted and shocked that I couldn't feel anything anymore... Well except for the sharp pain in my upper arm. I hadn't noticed how bad the pain was before now. I walked slightly behind Raphael more concerned about myself than the four turtles I was with.

"Long story." He sighed, seeming to relax.

I held my arm, the shivers of exhaustion and trauma finally hitting me with full force.

"Who's that?" A slightly lighter voice asked.

I didn't look up, but was trying to concentrate on what was happening with my body. I took in deep breaths to calm myself down, inching towards Raphael who was the only comfort I could count on at the moment. I felt Raphael turn to me, about to give me the scold I'd anticipated, but he stopped. I felt one of the brothers nearing me.

"Umm, someone should catch her, I think she's about to fa-" the lighter voice said before I got deaf.

I'd never in my life fainted before, but everything around me seemed to spin. A pressure was building in my ears and my eyes started to have black spots. Before I knew of it everything just went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter ****3**

Raphael caught June just in time as she staggered forward and collapsed. He caught her clumsily by the arm and managed to swoop an arm around her quickly. Her head dangled limply as he tried to hold her better and knelt down to manage her.

"Uuh. What just happened?" Mickey asked confused, looking strangely at the girl.

Raphael cursed her for following him. Now what should they do with her? Donnie rushed forward to her and knelt down in front of them to check up on her.

"Care to explain Raph?" Leonardo asked, moving forward to take a look at June too.

"How did she get this wound?" Donnie asked before Raphael could tell Leo to relax.

He looked down at her limp body and saw the gash on her arm. He hadn't noticed that until now and briefly felt guilty for being angry with her. Her long sand-blonde hair dangled wildly into the water and her blue eyes were now closed.

"It must've been the Krank. We-I mean- I ran into them before she came along. But I didn't see her getting hit by their beams." He answered honestly.

"She's freezing cold too." Donatello raised an eyebrow at Raphael -" you know humans are not half-cold blooded as us. Her body should be a bit warmer than ours." He said, lecturing Raphael for not taking care of her.

"Don't you think I know that?!" If he hadn't been holding June he would've slapped Donnie on the head "look it's a long story, okay? She followed me here."

"And why was she following you?" Leo asked skeptically, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Jeez Leo, would you-" Raphael was cut off by his youngest brother before he could start an argument with Leo.

"Uhm guys?! Don't you think we should get her to a hospital or something?!"

Mikey was seriously stupid sometimes, but this time he actually made good sense. They all went silent while looking at her.

"I'm afraid we can't turn her in to a hospital." Raphael said in a sigh.

"Wait? Why?" The three brothers almost said in choir.

"I'll tell you why later dammit!" Raphael snapped angrily and impatiently "just... Donnie you have to patch her up!"

"You're saying we take her back home?" Donnie asked skeptically.

"Master Splinter will be furious." Leo commented thoughtfully.

Raphael almost snarled, his temperament starting to boil up.

"Well she can't go to a hospital, because the purple dragons will just find her there, and we can't just leave her here either!" He shouted.

He looked down at her trying to control his temper in deep breaths. She'd been the one who hadn't left him out in the street even though he'd told her to get lost. He knew his brothers weren't the kind to just leave anyone hurt behind and was thankful for that. He didn't have to listen to any snappy comments about being worked up over a girl. She wouldn't have been treated any differently even if she was a man. They were all silent for a moment before Leo spoke.

"Let's take her home then. You need some patching up too Raph."

.

I woke up nauseated and with a banging headache. Rolling to me side I opened my eyes slowly to see a green blob in front of me. I groaned sourly and took a hand to my forehead as me eyes adjusted to the lighting. The green blob in front of me became a turtle who had the most childish curious expression I'd ever seen in a long time. He had bright blue eyes and whore an orange headband.

"Hey guys I think she's awake!" He peeped at my face like I peeped at his.

"Bucket." I managed to breath before the nausea got to me, and I fought a stomach cramp.

"Woah, guys I think she's going to puke!" He moved away quickly as another turtle swooped a bucket in front of me from behind the couch I was laying on.

I gave in to the cramps on my stomach and made the most awful gawking sound, spitting out gall until I thought I was out of air. The cramps stopped and I hang over the edge of couch for a moment. Even though I felt sick I was still well enough to feel embarrassed about vomiting in front of complete strangers. I took in a deep breath to control the cramps and laid back down on the couch. Another turtle moved in front of me and took the bucket, handing it to someone.

"Mikey go wash this and bring me a new one."

"Aaw do I have to?" I heard the one who had been sitting in front of me say.

The one in front of me shot him a glare, and moved to look at me, handing me a glass of water. I took a few sips vaguely while studying the one with a purple headband in front of me. Raphael hadn't been lying about having brothers. This brother had brown eyes and was slender compared to Raphael. I wondered where he was. He hadn't just left me alone with his brothers? I felt quite like a burden at the moment.

"I think you're experiencing some trauma at the moment, and also you have pretty nasty gash at your arm. I've been treating it, but it still needs some more cleaning before I can stitch it up. You have been running around the sewers after all." He told me.

I could barely comprehend what he was telling me. My body was shivering and my head felt heavy.

"Stitching?" I repeated. I didn't want to be stitched. It sounded painful.

The turtle looked insecure suddenly and laughed nervously.

"Well you don't have to worry about that now." He said.

"Where am I?" I asked, closing my eyes sickly and tired.

"Oh, you're in our home, down in the sewers." He said happily as the one named Mickey came back with a bucket for me.

I felt how serious the mood was and closed my eyes with a nod giving in to my tired body once again.

Apparently I'd fallen asleep, and when I woke I already felt I lot better. At first I thought there was no one around me, but then I noticed a figure sitting in front the television and one sitting on the long build in couch I was laying on. I couldn't recognize either of them in the dim light of the television. My left arm, the one I wasn't laying on, was sore as hell, but besides that I felt fine. I just stared silently at the television for a while. Everything I had experienced seemed like a far away dream now. But fact was that it was reality.

Raphael had really been good to me, all things considered, and my intuition told me that these turtles were gentle by nature. I almost didn't notice the silent footsteps entering the couch area when another turtle stepped in front of my view to the television. I didn't notice it was Raphael before I met his eyes, annoyed that he was standing in the way.

"Hey you're awake!" He said, his voice deeper, raspy and tired.

I felt the two other turtles turn to me as well and I suddenly felt a bit shy about the attention. Raphael walked towards me, eating a slice of pizza lazily.

"How are you?" I asked, immediately remembering the bad injuries he'd been running around with. My voice was hoarser than what I'd expected.

He stopped briefly, looking confused as the two other turtles came to me too.

"Oh... Still a bit sore. But you did a pretty good job." He said and continued walking before kneeling down in front of me.

I looked at the one of his brothers who came up behind Raphael with arms folded on his chest. He looked at me curiously as the last turtle sitting in the room came up to us too.

"Thanks." I replied, relieved that he was okay after all.

"I guess I should be thanking you. I've been asleep all day, so my wounds are healing up good." He said.

I didn't now exactly how I felt that he was looking at me from such a close distance and in my same eye level. But he seemed completely unaffected and actually quite innocent.

"It was lucky that you came around. The wound to his lower ribs had almost punctured his lung."

I recognized the one speaking, as the brother who'd treated my wound. I never really got to take I a good look at him but he was wearing a purple headband. The other one looking at me was wearing a blue headband, and frankly they all looked kind of similar to me.

"That sound severe." I said, moving my eyes, worried, to Raphael who was nodding in agreement.

I propped myself up on my elbow to have a better view;

"You wouldn't believe how much he told me to leave him alone in the snow. He didn't want any help." I said with a smirk.

Raphael sat down on the floor with his pizza, crossing his legs while giving me a scowl.

"You're right, I didn't! I could've made it here anyway." He snapped at me, withholding his penetrating eyes with mine.

"Raph always wanders off alone." The blue headbanded brother said.

Raphael's harsh words reached inside of me shortly. Surely he was convincing that I'd been wasting my time on him. I had to look away and looked at his blue-headband brother instead. He'd been very quiet even though he seemed curious. I gave him a small smile, noticing Raphael turn slightly in his seat as I did.

"How does your wound feel?" The purple-headband turtle asked me, peeping at me and budging in, in front of Raphael.

Raphael moved annoyed to the side, looking like he was about to give him a dope slap. I cringed slightly by the thought of my wound and felt it again. I turned my arm to look at it, but it was wrapped up in bandage.

"It feels sore." I said.

Sitting up, to examine it better I looked at the fine work the purple had done. I didn't know if I wanted to know what my wound actually looked like.

"I thought so. It had already been infected by bacteria from the sewers when I started treating you. I'm still trying to clean it properly so I can't stitch it up yet." He said.

"It needs stitching?" I asked with a gulp. It sounded like something that would hurt pretty bad and also I think he'd told me that once before.

"Don't worry! It doesn't hurt that much." Raphael commented with a smirk

"Tough guy." I sneered, pulling the warm blanket over my shoulders.

His two brothers chuckled condescendingly, both of them receiving a glare before he rolled his eyes.

"Don't take it personally. Raph's pride is just a bit broken. You know how weak it seems to accept help from others."

This time it was the blue's voice that spoke, his voice deeper on the same level as Raphael's, where the purple brother had a slightly lighter voice. His voice was sarcastic and teasing as he said it.

"Shut up Leo!"

Raphael growled insulted, having finished his slice of pizza. I chuckled at his behavior, it seemed very fitting for him.

"Hey guys are you coming or what? April's waiting for us at Murakami-san's and I'm starving!"

I looked to my right to see the one called Mikey walk into the living area (well I guess it was the living area). He stopped as he saw his brothers clamped around me, his eyes growing big with curiosity. He then sprinted towards us, dashing up on the couch beside me to take another peep at me.

"You're so peaceful when you sleep." He said, his voice admiring and innocent.

The three remaining brothers shook their heads, rolled eyes and Raphael even smacked himself on the forehead with the heel of his hand. I had no idea how to respond to that, it wasn't like I was confused enough. But I did remember him looking at me in the brief moment I'd been awake. The sentence was quite creepy, but that fact that he had watched me while I was asleep didn't seem that creepy. Maybe it was because he was a turtle.

"Mikey back off already." Raphael said, pulling his brother down to the floor, with an annoyed expression.

"Relax dude, I was just trying to make her feel welcome, unlike you dorks." He said, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Well thanks I guess." I said rubbing the back of my head.

Mikey smiled sheepishly at me and I wondered if he was the youngest of the brothers. He seemed that way.

"We better get going before Muramaki-san closes the shop." The blue one said, I guess his name was Leo, mentioning for them all to go.

A pitch of panic hit me. They couldn't just leave me down here with all these unanswered questions! Where was I?! Who were they?! Why wasn't I in the hospital?!

"No, Raphael, you're staying here with your guest and your wounds are not healed properly yet."

I turned around in my seat to watch a figure in the shadows behind a doorframe.

"What?! But sensei-" Raphael sounded dissatisfied, and nonetheless completely uninterested in the fact that I was here.

"No buts! Raphael you must show her the same hospitality she gave you."

Out of the door walked a giant rat. He had dark brown fur, with white cheeks and a long thin beard hanging down from his chin. He wore a long Chinese coat and walked with a stick as if he was old. I leaped out of the sofa in pure instinct and went to Raphael's side, just in case. Raphael looked at the rat as if he was kidding, and at the same time disappointed by my reaction.

"June, this is master Splinter, our sensei." He said, deliberately sounding nonchalant and monotone.

I guess he didn't like the thought of staying here with me while his brothers went out, but his attitude made me feel quite unwelcome. It wasn't my choice to come this far as to their home. I didn't know what exactly I'd been expecting by following him, but at least I didn't expect him to be this irritated.

"Hi..." I said, forcing a smile at the unnatural sight.

"You are most welcome here. You saved my son's life." He said with a nod and turned around to disappear into the room he'd come from.

I looked to Raphael in question. Did he say son? Raphael stood stiffly with crossed arms and looked after his master with a horribly irritated expression. The silence lingered between us until the door closed behind his master. Raphael sighed deeply and turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

"What? Why're you so hostile?" I asked him, trying to look confident.

"You think I'm being hostile? Believe me, if I was hostile you wouldn't be in doubt... At all!" He said and moved to the couch.

I hadn't noticed before, but my legs was quite sore from all the running I'd been doing and also my knees hurt. I watched him move to the couch and slump into it before I moved to sit next to him. I felt kind of bad that he didn't want me here and wondered why he had to babysit me.

"Well... Then maybe I'll just head home." I said and clapped my thighs determined.

He laughed outright at me as I made move to get up. Of course he did. I wasn't going to leave with all these unanswered questions hanging over my head anyway.

"Home? You can't go home. You can't even go to the hospital. The purple dragons already knows your involved with us, and as long their suspicion I set on you, it's probably best to stay here or with a friend. I mean, you can't even go to school before we figure out when it's safe for you again. Since you choose me, and not your friend, you're going to stay here for a while." He said, smirking all knowingly at me.

I leaned back in the couch in shock, looking at my thighs thoughtfully. I'd really gotten myself into a big mess, and his harsh tone didn't make it easier to digest the information. A lump got caught in my throat and I started to fight the tears that burned behind my eyes. I refused to cry in front of him. This was my own fault. He sighed when he saw my expression.

"Hey, it's alright. You'll be safe down here. Don't be mistaken you are welcome, I was just a bit upset that I couldn't go out with my brothers."

He moved a bit closer, searching my face. I wanted to say something, but at the moment my voice would just crack. This was all too much. Bowing down I hid my face in my hands trying to control the tears. I thought I would be cooler than this but apparently I was a wuss. What was I thinking following a strange turtle deep into the sewers?! I felt his awkwardness towards me. He didn't know what to do about me, and I was glad that he just kept silent until I was under control.

"What am I going to do?" I asked looking up from my hands.

"Don't worry we'll help you. We've helped others before, like April the others is going to meet up with." He said.

The tv was still playing in front of us, and in the dim light I noticed the holes in my pants by my knees. I took a piece of fabric and lifted it the slightest to see some nasty scrapes across both knees.

"Oh, so you do know others." I said, mostly paying attention to my knees.

He chuckled once again and I looked around to see that he'd softened.

"Of course. Well not that many, but some." He said, his expression gradually changing as he looked to my knees.

"Don't tell me your knees are hurt too?" He asked, moving out of the couch to take a better look.

My knees were a bit dramatic looking as I'd been running around in water. Dried blood trailed down the scrapes and the scrapes themselves looked a bit infected.

"Guess I hurt my knees when I fell out of the small tubes we crawled through." I said.

"Sloppy work Donnie." Raphael muttered, taking a hold of my left knee to study it.

"Be careful!" I warned him.

He sent me a quick glare in silence and got up.

"Come, I think Donnie has something we can clean the scrapes up with." He said.

Thank god I was wearing sweatpants or I would've faced the awkwardness of taking off my pants to clean the scrapes. The turtles weren't wearing any clothes beside bracers, belts and what not, so loaning a pair of pants wasn't exactly an option. I got up and immediately felt how sore my legs was. At first I thought it was my legs that were tired, but apparently the scrapes on my knees hurt too when I was standing. Raphael walked off in a quick pace, where as I was feeling like and old lady trying to walk fast. He stopped by a small set of stairs and waited impatiently for me. I tried the best i could to look unaffected as I finally made it to him. It was only two steps of stairs I had to take but bending my knees to much really felt like opening the wounds again. Raphael sighed and crossed his arms as I made the stairs.

"Don't tell me I have to carry you?" He asked.

"No!" I snorted, I was perhaps very pathetic at the moment but at least I had some pride left!

He looked at me impatiently as I continued on. I wasn't sure if I'd ever met anyone like him, carrying all his feelings like a coat. I never seemed to be in doubt about how he felt, and he sure didn't do anything to hide it. I yelped when he easily swooped me into his arms and lifted me up in bridal style.

"This is definitely not my pace." He said irritated.

I took a second to recover as he strode forward. I took a good grip of his shield behind his neck to support myself and looked at him dumbly.

"You're not very patient are you?" I asked, trying to hold my legs straight enough for them to not hurt.

"One point to blonde girl." He snapped sarcastically.

It had been a long time since I'd been picked up by anybody, not to mention feeling as light as a feather. My weight didn't seem like problem at all to him. I understood why when I looked at his fletched bicep holding my legs and the fine lines that showed each major muscle in his arm. Shaking my head I reminded myself not to think about his body, it had almost been horribly embarrassing the last time, and it was so inappropriate, the situation considered.

"What're you shaking your head for?" He asked, glancing down at me with his green eyes.

"Nothing, just a thought." I answered quickly.

"What thought?" He pushed.

I'd forgotten how pushy he'd been at home, and I had to come up with a quick lie or take the long argument about not wanting to answer him.

"You're so pushy!" I muttered as he threw me into a bed of the room we'd entered.

He turned around to a large desk, neatly organized but filled with stuff. I started to roll up my pants, making sure that they wouldn't touch my scrapes as I did. Coming up with an explanation he wouldn't misunderstand was crucial as he easily thought I was scared of him.

"I was just thinking that the last time someone carried me was when I was a kid." I said, stealing a glance in his direction as he searched some drawers hastily.

I looked at his shield. The lighting in this room was better and I could really get a clear view of the patterned surface. I hadn't really looked properly at his shield yet and I found it strangely beautiful.

"Found it!" He bursted.

I looked away immediately and pulled the blanket higher over my shoulders. He turned around and walked over to me, kneeling to have a better look at the scrapes.

"Well, don't get used to it." He said with a smirk, his eyes glistening teasingly at me.

I couldn't help but smile back at him. He was so odd, so strange, that is was almost cute... In a manly way. I watched him as he started to clean the scrapes carefully. He was a bit rough but I would've been surprised if he was gentle handed.

"I'm trying my best to be as gentle as you were to me." He said.

His tone had completely changed. He sounded soft and sincere like he was actually worried. He'd probably seen me flinch the slightest when he'd padded the cotton onto the scrape.I wondered how worried he'd been when I was out cold, which reminded me of something;

"What time is it? How long have I been asleep?" I asked him.

He moved to my other knee before answering, seemingly deeply concentrated about what he was doing. Whether it was because he was actually worried or just the fact that I was a girl, I didn't know.

"I think it's about 8:30 pm." He answered absently.

I realized then that I'd been asleep for almost 12 hours. It was ridiculous! No wonder he was already feeling better!

"I gotta call my friend at some point." I said in a low voice, flinching the slightest when he pressed a bit to hard.

"Uh, yeah... You have come up with a pretty good story for skipping school next week." He said.

"It's not like anyone is going to believe me anyways." I muttered and leaned back in the bed to look around the room.

It was filled with all kinds of electronics, wires and funny things you could find at a waste dump.

"So... Could you tell me who you guys are, what you do and what the beef is with the purple dragons? I'm pretty confused." I asked.

He sighed as if it was too much of a bother, but I could tell that he wanted to share it with me. It was a pretty long story he had for me, though I guess it was shorter than what some of his other brothers would've told me. There was the deal with the purple dragons. The deal about Aprils father and the so called Krank, which apparently was aliens. My mind was pretty open at the moment, and I felt like I'd just discovered some big conspiracy secret and felt an urge to post it all on a hackers forum before I would die with my secret. On the other hand, I knew I wouldn't do any of those things because of these turtle guys. Apparently it was alien waste which had made them human-turtles. The story was fascinating, and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't met this guy. I guess my perfect little high school life was over for good.

"Are you hungry?" He asked after a moment of silence.

I guess I looked a bit blank while trying to comprehend everything he'd told me. He was sitting on the floor in squad position after he'd cleaned my knees. I felt my stomach; I guess I was hungry.

"Yeah a bit." I said, flashing him an embarrassed smile.

"Come. I think we have some leftover pizza. Unless you want worms and alleges." He stood up on the spot, not even using his hands, and offered me a hand.

"No thanks." I said, taking his hand.

He pulled me up easily, and we both made sure we didn't get to close. I followed him slowly (once again) into the the kitchen, only to be demanded out to the living area, to eat in front of the television. I don't know for how long we zapped around trying to find something interesting to watch before we actually stumbled upon cartoon we both wanted liked, even though I didn't like to admit it much. He seemed satisfied though. I thought it very guyish that he wanted to watch cartoons, it was very typical guys my age.

Apparently we were watching a marathon of justice league, and we both commented now and then. I felt very geeky actually. I could never watch this with Sophia. She was from the upper east side, so our worlds were completely different. Of course Raphael's favorite character was Batman; a character that only resembled Raphael by the tiniest of bits. Batman was very ninja like, but his cool and collected demeanor was far from what I'd seen in Raphael's personality. I could guess that Raphael subconsciously wanted some of those traits. On one side he was just a normal bloke, and on the other he was a ninja apparently. Unless he'd told me, he and his brothers were ninjas, I wouldn't have guessed it myself. It was so not-turtle-like. The very fact that they called themselves ninjas was so odd for me that I almost wanted to laugh in disbelief. I could've picked up on some of the clues though, like his smooth quick movements and his light footing. But I wasn't that smart obviously.

Although the mood was set to relaxed I couldn't help but feel slightly awkward and worried. I still wanted to ask him more questions, at least, have a conversation, but something about his attitude made me want to keep silent. It wasn't like me to react so timidly, but I didn't know Raphael and the whole situation was still overwhelming. I studied him secretly out of the corner of me eyes occasionally. It was like watching TV with an alien - an astounding one if I may be so bold.

His brothers caught me a bit off guard when they entered and my eyes flickered away from Raphael beside me.

"Raph you missed out on the most awesome battle!"

I think the orange headbanded turtles name was Mikey, although I wasn't quite sure. He was the one who spoke loudly while starting to kick and punch the air.

"It wasn't that great Mikey" the purple one said crossing his arms indifferently as the younger Mikey was still telling stories about the fight while showing different moves.

I sensed Raphael sneer sourly and I looked at him as he crossed his arms while looking at the TV, an intense glare visible in his eyes. My old self kicked in at seeing his self pity.

"Stop being so sour! It's not you who have to hide and leave everything behind!" I snapped at him.

He turned sharply in his seat, his green eyes boring into mine. I caught my breath abruptly, fighting an urge to flinch away even though I held his gaze as sternly as he did mine.

"You don't think living in the sewers is hiding?! Maybe you should just stop meddling in other people's affairs, then you wouldn't have ended up here!" His irritation and anger was so evident that I couldn't hold his gaze anymore.

He turned away and got up with a rough hiss and stomped away, cursing under his breath, and disappearing into another room. I was left back stunned and confused as I went my own sentence over in my head. There was no question that I had to watch my words around him. I had no clue about how the turtles were like, how they felt and what their situation was. The thought of them having to hide from the civilization upstairs hadn't crossed my mind yet, but I could imagine their struggle.

His brothers stood silently and looked after Raphael. Leo looked slightly sad while the two others just looked kind of scared.

"I'm sorry." I said hesitantly, hoping I hadn't offended the three others.

"Don't worry about it. You're allowed to give your opinion. Raph just needs to blow off some steam." Leo said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I should go and apologize." I said reluctantly.

Although I'd just met him, I'd experienced so much with him that I felt connected to him somehow. I could never forget the intensity he held when he helped escaping from my house. I figured in that instant that Raphael had not been abandoned by his siblings, but rather he had run off on his own. Being so blunt and speaking his mind as easily as he did, being rebellious went without saying.

"You should take spiky with you. Just in case." Mikey said, picking up a small land turtle I hadn't seen crawling around on the floor.

"Spikey? Is that your pet turtle?" I asked.

As strange as it seemed, I guess a turtle was still a turtle. Mikey handed it to me, and it hid in its shell as I took it.

"Yeah, well mostly Raph's, he's pretty attached to him." Donny explained and sat down beside me.

I put the shell on my lap and looked at it, a train of thoughts swirling around in my head.

"I don't get it. A few hours ago he was being really nice to me." I said.

The brothers exchanged understanding glances. Clearly that wasn't unusual behavior from Raphael.

"That's Raph for you. Don't take it personally." Leo said giving me an encouraging smile.

"Clearly I upset him somehow. I don't get how a stranger can provoke that in him." I said as Spiky was starting to emerge from his hide in his shell.

"I would say it's pretty easy to push Raph's buttons, even for strangers." Donny said.

I looked at him in all honesty, realizing that the guy my fascination was stuck with was (a turtle) a type of personality I'd never met before which explained some of my strange fascination.

"Good to know." I said and stood up slowly in consideration to my knees.

Spiky looked around lazily in my hands, his feet dangling out of the shell. I started towards the door Raphael had disappeared into, wondering why I even bothered to apologize. Then again I found myself reel off all the reasons why I should be grateful to him, considering I wasn't his responsibility. I knocked on his door twice, and entered when no answer came.

Peeping inside a clean room, with shelves stuffed with comic books I saw him sitting in his bed by the far right corner, his head hidden in a comic book. I cleared my throat, stepping further inside and looked around the small room and nearly tripped over some weights on the floor. Raphael remained motionless, so I walked in further starting to feel nervous and removed a few books from the chair by his desk to sit down.

"I'm sorry if I offended you Raphael." I started hesitantly, and looked to Spiky in my lap when he didn't answer.

When I peeped up again I met the green fierce gaze of his eyes, peeping over the top of his comic. I smiled apologetic at him, seeing his eyes soften the slightest before turning stubbornly fierce again. His eyes went to Spiky in my lap, and he seemed to suit himself uncomfortably.

"Spiky, why're you being such a traitor?" He asked the turtle.

I looked down at the indifferent turtle in my lap, seeming to fall asleep soon. Raphael put his comic down with a sigh at the silent turtle and sat up with his feet on the floor and folding his hands in front of him.

"Did you give him a lettuce leaf? He doesn't usually look so calm with strangers." He asked me.

Apparently it made him uncomfortable the whole apologizing thing, and I felt like my apology just hang loosely in the air, without anyone to take it.

"Um, no. I just picked him up." I said with a shrug.

Raphael shot me a suspicious look and got up to pick up Spikey.

"I guess, if Spiky can forgive you, so can I." He said without looking at me and petted the turtle.

I cocked an eyebrow at the odd forgiveness while suddenly feeling like he didn't deserve my apology.

"Right. Good" I said. If there was anything this guy could make me feel, it was pathetic.

"Having only seen the action-filled ninja side of you, it's kind of weird to se you so casually reading a comic book." I commented taking a look around his room.

He took a look around his room like it was no big deal and shrugged.

"Gotta fill the time between fights with something besides training." He answered and went to my side and picked up the Sais on the desk behind me.

He handed me Spiky, a good sign I guess, and started towards the door.

"Hold him, I have to go and do some push-ups." He said, opening the door and striding outside.

I sat behind with Spikey in my lap, wondering if that was it. His obvious indifference towards me irritated me the slightest. Could I really be that uninteresting, even to someone like him? Boys always seemed to like me. I rushed up and followed after him, and saw him disappear into another room.

"Hey June. Um, do you wanna see our training room?" Mikey asked as soon as he saw me, and sprinted towards me with a huge grin on his face.

"Uh, sure." I said, looking to the door Raphael had disappeared into, and forced myself to turn back to Mikey.

"Awesome!" Mikey started to walk, waving me along "I hope Raph wasn't to hard on you. He's a bit harsh sometimes, but really he's a big softy inside." Mikey said softly.

Hearing him talking so fondly about his own brother, made me les worried about Raphael's opinion about me and I smiled sincerely at the younger turtle.

"No he wasn't hard at all... Just not what I'm used to." I said, seeing that we were going towards the door Raphael had disappeared into.

"Bet you're not used to super awesome turtles like us either!" He said enthusiastically.

We entered a larger room with what seemed like a bonsai tree, which someone had failed to contain bonsai, standing in the far right end of the room. The floor was covered in tatami mats and the room had a smell of hay. Naturally I noticed Raphael who was doing push-ups using his sais. I I couldn't deny that I was impressed by his count and the bulging arms and shoulders which worked hard for him.

"This is my weapon! Nunchakus! Bazzaaa!"

Mikey jumped in front me, childishly showing off his skills, and seemingly to be caught in his own world of awesomeness, until he smacked himself in the head with the end of his weapon. I suffocated a laugh, as he looked at me dizzily and noticed Raphael had been watching Mikey's show too.

"What're you doing you moron? You shouldn't show off." He said and started a new set of push-ups.

Mikey turned around seeming offended and glared at his older brother.

"Oh yeah?! Says the turtle who got saved by a girl!" Mikey mocked.

There was no mistaken that Raphael's temper peaked abruptly and he leaped up stomping ferociously towards Mikey. I backed away, instinctively trying to avoid the wave of boiling temperament coming towards us.

"I could've made it without her!" I shouted, pointing directly at me while towering over his young brother.

Getting so worked up over a small comment was beyond my understanding, but my temperament started to boil at the shouting at his brother.

"So what?! What're you getting so worked up for?" I asked, taking a leap of faith and walking in between Raphael and Mikey. "Will you relax? I didn't ask for this, you didn't either! Why can't you move on?! You're to proud for your own good."

Raphael didn't budge an inch as I poked his plastron to make my point come across.

"I! I... Mikey should keep his mouth shut!" He inched closer, looking closely down at me, his eyes burning with anger. "And you shouldn't be here."

The words struck me harder than I thought as it wasn't the first time he'd hinted that I was unwelcome. He was sending so many mixed signals. My eyes flickered involuntarily, my brave face starting to crack right in front of him. I stared hurtful right back at him, holding my breath to control the pricking behind my eyes.

"I bet June could beat your ass any time!" Mikey said, coming to my defense but missing the fact that I was trying to hide how much Raphael's words had reached me.

Raphael on the other hand seemed to notice immediately, a regretful softness reaching his eyes for a few seconds before turning hard again. He laughed loud and mockingly at Mikey's words and I backed away, relenting the discussion, afraid I was going to break. Apparently i didn't know myself so well, cause I'd never thought that I would loose face so easily.

"That is just funny Mikey. We can spar if she has the guts." He said.

"I don't." I said and looked away, seeing the flick of emotions cross his eyes at the sight of whatever I looked like at the moment.

I turned around on my heels, handing Mikey Spiky abruptly, and left the room when my eyes started to water. I'd been a the brink of crying twice before in Raphael's presence and he hadn't in any way seemed comforting. Wether it was because I was a stranger or because he was just clueless, I didn't know.

"Where's your bathroom?" I asked Leonardo quickly who was sitting in front of the television, avoiding to meet his eyes, afraid that he would see me emotional state.

"Um, that door." He said and pointed while seeming to pick up on the tone in my voice.

"What's going on?" He asked as I stormed towards the bathroom, closing the door hard behind me and avoiding his question.

I locked the door, and went to the sink letting me expression finally crack and the tears flow freely. I tried to not make my breaths so loud and obvious, and sat down on the floor and let the emotions run freely out. Tears streamed down my cheeks, as I soundlessly cried, finally letting all the turmoil of the situation I was stuck in sink in. Finding a wounded guy, waking up to someone breaking into my house, running through the sewers, meeting aliens, meeting mutants, surviving, the pain in my arm, Raphael's despising of me. It was so much to take in. I hugged my legs as my body started to shiver, my breath starting to hitch like a child's crying.

**No one P.O.V**

Mikey shot Raph a disapproving glare as June had stormed out of the room.

"Why'd you upset her?" Mikey asked.

Raphael wasn't quite sure himself, he'd just reacted out of instinct forgetting that he easily could come across as being mean to people who didn't know him. Though he was harsh towards Mikey, he also had a soft spot for his younger brother and Mikey was fully aware of that, therefore taking lightly in Raphael's temper. He hadn't really meant to hurt June, but she'd been right about his pride, therefore resulting in his pride talking too.

"That wasn't my intention! She just..."

In truth he had the feeling that she was going to leave them at some point, ending up hurting his brothers in some way. She wasn't fit to be with them, and would leave as soon their protection was no longer needed. Donny, never seemed to move on or like anybody else but April, leaving the guy to still chase her to this day. Leo and Karai have had a turbulent relationship being sworn enemies. None of his brothers could truly express their love towards the human girls. Raphael was at least being realistic about it, maybe I bit cynical, but they would never find love in human girls, but simply end up hurt. That was why June's presence irritated him. His brothers would become attached to her and get hurt because of what they are. Girls were trouble.

"She's not supposed to be here." Raphael sighed, recalling her eyes grow large and hurt at his words.

"Raphael."

The brothers turned to see their sensei and father standing in the doorway to his room, hands folded behind his back. He held his head high proudly, despite his rat-like appearance, looking like a true master.

"I have not taught you to treat guest like this." Splinter said, walking further into the room.

Raphael looked to the floor defiantly, realizing Splinter had been listening to the conversation.

"My son, you should be grateful for the kindness she has given you, even when you did not ask for it. That is rare to find nowadays." He added, looking down at the hot-headed turtle with a father-like love.

"Yes master, I know." Raphael answered reluctantly, bowing his head in defeat to the person he held most respect for.

"Sure don't act like it." Mikey muttered, receiving a glare from Raphael.

"You should go an apologize." Splinter said, putting a comforting hand on Raphael's shoulder.

"No, there's nothing to apologize for." Raphael said through gritted teeth.

Splinter looked at Raphael, recognizing the stubborn pride his son held and sighed inwardly. Convincing Raphael what was wrong and right only made things worse. So Splinter decided to let Raphael figure out things his own way, the hard way.

"Very well, maybe your brothers can right your wrongs." Splinter said.

Raphael kept his gaze to ground stubbornly staring at it as Splinter went out the room.

"Uhm, I think there something wrong with June." Leonardo told Splinter as the wise man came into the living area.

Leonardo who had been unsure about what to do, stood awkwardly by the door to the bathroom. Splinter nodded, moving towards Leonardo without explanation and went to knock on the door.

"Child come out so we can talk." he called and received no answer.

Splinter looked at Leonardo who shrugged questioningly.

"I know that Raphael's words are heavy, but they shouldn't be taken as such." he added, pointing one ear towards the door to listen.

The lock clicked open and the door was opened slowly, out peeping a broken looking girl with red eyes. There was a sense of pride still clinging to her and her expression was brave. Leonardo's eyes widened the slightest, taking pity in her state of condition.

"I-I was just overwhelmed." she stuttered, whipping her eyes with her hands as she stepped outside timidly.

Her eyes flickered when looking at Splinter, all kind of emotions going through her eyes at the strange sight of him. She looked hesitant, and went instinctively towards Leonardo who was more familiar. Leonardo who was quick of mind, immediately picked up the fact that his younger brother Raphael had something to do with her reaction, and it didn't come as a surprise to him

"Look, I know Raphael is a hot-head sometimes and if he really didn't want you here he would've kicked out the minute you woke up. He do have a soft spot for people in need, and apparently so do you. He always gets into sticky situations when he wanders off alone, so you shouldn't take it personally whatever he has said. If he really didn't care he would've kicked you out." Leonardo explained.

June's eyebrows was furrowed as she seemed to try to understand Leonardo's explanation which was a bit vague.

"I don't even know why I take it so personally, I mean I barely know him. It's just seeing him lie there in the freezing snow, bleeding and pathetic..." she trailed off seeming to recall a cold memory she didn't enjoy.

"I thought he was all alone. I kind of know how that is..." she said.

At that moment she realized that despite all odds she had formed some kind of bond or connection with Raphael which was why it also hurt her to see him be so angry.

Leonardo was silent, trying to understand what had actually happened the night they'd been gone. Raphael's explanation hadn't been quite as emotional as hers.

"Leonardo, will you find a blanket and a pillow for June so she can rest." Splinter asked.

Leonardo nodded and looked concerned at June before he turned around and disappeared into a room.

"Come, you can sleep in the couch."

Splinter gestured for June to follow him to couch area and she followed willingly.

"Do not worry about Raphael." He assured, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She smiled faintly as Leonardo came out with a purple blanket and a pillow for her. It struck June that it probably was in the middle of night at the moment and that she felt very tired despite having slept for twelve hours. She was grateful though, for the hospitality and protection the others offered her and bit Leonardo and Splinter goodnight.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I woke up the next morning at school time, disturbed by Donny who was making his way to the kitchen. My arm and knees were even more sore today and I hissed as I got up, greeting Donny meanwhile. I hadn't spoken much to him, but he seemed like the shyest of brothers, although you couldn't call it shy, just more down to earth.

"You want some breakfast?" He asked, stopping by the kitchen doorway questioningly.

I looked at him groggily, not really knowing what to do with myself and nodded gratefully after a moment. I really needed a bath and new clothes... I needed new underpants if I was going to take I bath. Rubbing my forehead as I followed Donny, my mind was finally catching up to all the events that had happened. I failed to notice Raphael as I walked into the kitchen, lost in thought and probably looking like I'd just stepped out of a horror movie. I first saw him when I stood by the island table in the middle of the kitchen, pouring milk into his cereal, looking stubborn and stiff, probably having noticed me the second I walked in. No greeting was shared between us, as Donny got me bowl and took the cereal from beside Raphael.

"Thank you." I said to him, and started pouring as Raphael went to place his newly poured cereal on the island, furthest away from me.

I glanced up at him subtly, seeing he was ignoring me just as much as I was ignoring him. He had a sullen and stubborn expression, leaning lazily against the edge of the table while eating smugly. Donny looked between the two of us suspiciously, obviously sensing the awkward tension that lingered in the kitchen.

"So, um, June... How're you feeling today?" He asked with a mouth full of cereal.

I tore my eyes away from Raphael and looked at Donny standing by my side, giving me a calculating look, still flashing an adorable smile.

"I'm better actually. Slept straight through the night." I answered, flashing him a smile.

"That's good to hear." He said.

This brother was definitely more polite and well mannered than his older brother with the red headband.

"Yeah. But I could really use some knew clothes. I mean the clothes I'm wearing now has gone thorough the sewers." I said, holding out the side of my pants to prove my point.

"Oh, right. I'm afraid we don't have any you can borrow." He said.

"I didn't count on that." I said, smiling at him.

Although all the turtles were taller than me, Donny and Leo was the tallest of bunch I noted. While they had seemed similar to me, I could make out the small differences that separated the brothers. Comparing Donny and Raphael, Donny was taller but more slender, not being quite as muscular as Raphael. Raphael's skin was a slight dark green compared to Donny, who was a more brown, earthy green.

"You should ask Mikey to go with you if you want to go and buy clothes." Donny said thoughtfully.

"Really? In brought daylight?" I asked skeptically, hoping I wasn't offending anybody.

"He'll just put on a coat and a hat." Donny said, waving dismissively with his hand.

"Okay. If you think he wants to go." I said with a shrug.

I didn't mind to get to know Mikey better, although being with a turtle still was a strange thought. I looked at the indifferent Raphael, playing the ignoring game with me. If there was anything I was used to, it was playing the ignoring game with girls at school. Not that I was the one to start it, but god, girls could really play the mental game. If that was what he wanted to play, then so be it.

"I almost forgot!" Donny said out loud, startling both me and Raphael "I better check your wound."

Donny started unwrapping my upper arm, forcing me to stop eat.

"It's still a bit sore." I said when he lifted the last wrapping, and examined the wound with his eyes.

I noticed Raphael peep curiously at my arm from his place by the table, still making sure not to make any eye contact with me.

"Maybe it needs a day or two." Donny said, nodding to himself.

"And my knees?" I asked, receiving a popped eyebrow from him.

"Your knees were hurt too?" He asked, bending down to check the wound as I lifted up in my sweatpants.

"Yeah, I could barely walk yesterday." I said.

"It looks like you have a fine scab on both knees. Did you clean them yourself?" He asked.

"No." I paused and looked at Raphael fully who looked away sullenly-" Raphael did."

His fierce green eyes met mine from across the table, the green gaze flickering away quickly as he moved uncomfortably. Donny stood up again, turning around to look questioningly at Raphael.

"Since when did you start to patch up people?" He asked, putting his hands to his hips like a mother.

"Since you didn't do a good enough job, somebody had to do it." Raphael snapped.

Donny furrowed his eyebrows at his older brother silently, an intern passing of knowledge seeming to be shared between them, which I couldn't hope to understand as I didn't know them well enough.

"Right..." Donny said strangely and turned to me again "I'm sorry I overlooked it. But surprisingly Raph here knew what he was doing."

"Yeah, I would know. My mom has taught me a few things. She's a combat medic." I said, smiling at his curious expression.

Raphael remained silent, even after his brothers comment, and went to clean his bowl.

"Oh." I picked up my cellphone from my pocket and looked at it. "I better call my friend Sophia and tell her why I'm not coming to school."

I went through my list of contacts and found her dial almost immediately and pressed 'call' while taking a mouthful of cereal. The phone beeped twice before she picked it up;

"Hey girl!" She squeaked, her sarcastic tone not going unnoticed.

"Hey it's me." I chuckled

"What's up?" She asked casually, reminding me of why I enjoyed her company.

Growing up into a wealthy family Sophia had always had an easy life. That didn't stop her from being as rebellious as she was, though intelligent. She was a beautiful girl with long dark hair, and had always had a dark French edge to her, which obviously made her very fashionable but sullen of appearance. We'd first started talking together in fifth grade, and had ever since then really enjoyed each others company as we were both fairly mature compared to our classmates.

"I'm down with a cold so I'm not coming to school any time soon." I lied, glancing at Donny who seemed to be able to hear what Sophia was saying.

"Seriously, why's everybody getting sick? Brad Jackson just texted me that he was sick too!"

"I know right? It sucks."

"Don't worry. I'll come and take care of you after school."

I bit my lip, and saw Raphael turn slightly. He was listening too. An urge to tell Sophia where I was and what had happened bubbled in me, and I gulped as I searched for words, seeing Donny growing concerned.

"Are you there?" She asked me.

"Um yeah, sorry. I just thought I was going to puke. You shouldn't worry I can take care of myself." I lied, starting to feel bad about it.

"But June, your mom's never home. You're always alone." She said, sounding pleading.

Raphael turned more, this time meeting my eyes without hesitation. I lowered my head slightly and looked away. Sophia was giving away a touchy subject and I could tell by Raphael's expression that the fact that I lived alone took him by surprise, like it had just occurred to him that my life un the surface wasn't exactly trouble free.

"It's alright. I think it's contagious, so don't come anywhere near me." I told her.

She was silent for a moment before relenting with a sigh;

"Fine... But make sure to keep me updated!" She demanded.

We said our goodbyes and I was left with a feeling of guilt for lying to one of my best friends. Raphael who'd been looking at me turned again and put his bowl in a cabin nonchalantly before leaving the kitchen without a word. A sting of sadness touched me briefly when he left the room. I didn't like being on bad terms with anybody, especially not someone I was stuck in the sewers with. But I guess we were both too stubborn to apologies... At least Raphael was, unless he'd been honest about the fact that I shouldn't be here.

"I couldn't fail to notice Raph's mood. Did something happen last night?" Donny asked, seeming to carefully choose his words.

"Oh, you didn't hear? We sort of had a fight yesterday." I paused, swallowing a spoon full of cereal before continuing. "It was a short fight, but he told me that I shouldn't be here. In general, he hasn't given me the impression of him approving of my stay here, although you other guys seem very hospitable." I explained.

"Of course. It isn't very often we get visitors who can actually tolerate us. You are more than welcome." He said, his brown intelligent eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

His words made me relax, removing the tension that lingered in body after being in the same room as Raphael.

"Thank you. I needed to hear that." I said genuinely.

Donny smiled sheepishly seeming flattered and flashed his adorable smile with the large space between his two front teeth.

"And as far as Raphael goes... He just needs some time. Normally he's very outgoing and funny. He'll warm up to you eventually. I know him well enough to see that in his eyes." Donny said confidently.

How it could still came as a surprise how fondly Raphael's brothers talked about him, was a question to me. But their bond was strong even though I couldn't see it at the moment.

So the day progressed. Donny patched me up after breakfast, and I quickly learned about his intelligence and interest in science and machinery. The turtles used a lot of their time training with their master or working out. Splinter was so nice as to invite me to watch their training session, and I had it admit that I was beyond impressed by their skills. I hadn't seen anyone as agile and athletic in real life and I think that I was starting to feel very insignificant compared to them. The fact that those mellow smiling guys could kill me in the blink of an eye, made me wonder why they even cared to shelter me. Although Raphael and I still hadn't spoken a word to each other, he was still the one I found myself admiring more than the others. For all in the world I tried to hide my infatuation by not looking at him to much, but he was the most muscular, athletic and the most intimidating of the four which was both scary and exciting at the same time. The fact that he had helped me and taken care of me and at the same time didn't seem to like me, gave my fascination a good nudge, which was beyond odd behavior from my side.

But I had no intention of speaking with him whatsoever, and had no clue what to say anyway.

"Seriously, I look like a homeless person in these dirty clothes." I complained as Mikey and I was about to leave.

"You smell like one too."

Raphael who was sitting in the couch, reading a comic, sounded through the room, subtly listened to Mikey and I's conversation. He didn't even as much as look up as he said it. Considering that it was the first time all day he'd said anything to me, I think it was a good sign.

"What was that sound? I think there's a fly in here. So annoying." I said, looking around myself as if there actually was a fly.

"... You do smell a bit." Mikey admitted innocently, tapping his index fingers together.

"No wonder there's flies around you when you smell so much." Raphael snapped back.

I clenched my hands, biting down my flaring temperament. I wanted to badly to go berserk on him for ignoring me and talking trash. I hadn't done anything mean or malicious to deserve such a treatment. But I bit my lip to hold down the wave of anger, my eyes growing cold and stubborn. He was right though. Considering I had been running around the sewers with and had gone with no bath in almost three days, I should be smelling pretty bad at this point.

"Come on Mikey, let's go." I said in a sigh, turning around to exit their home.

Once in the sewers Mikey led the way to a manhole. He didn't hide the fact that he was worried about my relationship with Raphael.

"You know you shouldn't take Raph's behavior personally." He said.

"It's kind of hard." I admitted as he stopped by a ladder.

"I know he's harsh, but that's just because he cares." He explained.

Even though I'd heard this same thing from all of Raphael's brothers by now, it hadn't occurred to me that Raphael's behavior was normal, and even positively suspicious towards a newcomer. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Mikey.

"What do you mean? That makes no sense." I said.

"I mean-" Mikey sighed and rolled his eyes like it was obvious- "if Raph didn't like you or care about you, he wouldn't have bothered to ignore and bully you. I thought we already told you this."

He started climbing the ladder, shaking his head like I was stupid. I couldn't believe I first realized that Raphael wasn't mad at me, now. I smirked to myself, following the cloaked young turtle. If what Mikey had told me was true, there was really nothing to be truly sad about or scared of.

The snow was melting as I peeped up from a manhole in an ally. Mikey helped me up with a big grin on his face, and showed us into the main street of what could only be Chinatown. I suddenly understood why Mikey didn't stand out in the crowd. Everyone was busy, making their way in their daily routine. Small shops were open everywhere and bikes and cars roamed the street.

"Okay. I need to find an H&M or something." I shouted to Mikey, trying to overpower the noisy street.

"I know where the closest one is." He said happily, the shady figure he beamed of not matching the tone of his voice.

"Really? I didn't expect that..." I said, trying to keep up with his pace.

Even though the four turtles were brothers, they were so different. Mikey seemed very content with being on the surface and talking to humans, more I think, than his brothers. The fact that he knew the closest H&M told me that he cared much about the streets.

We ventured out of Chinatown, Mikey talking enthusiastically about where the four would go, and what rooftops they'd climbed. He was easy to talk with and pleasant to be around and I already felt like I was his friend.

We found a store pretty quickly, and since I'm not loaded with money I bought some basic clothes; tops, jeans, underwear, socks, shoes to wear at home and so on. Our next stop was by a small store where I could get a tooth brush, brush, shampoo and all that basic stuff. I should probably mention how weird it felt to walk around with a shady figure like Mikey. We must've looked like a couple of thieves, considering I looked like a bum and Mikey looked like someone who was selling illegal things. But we went by without much notice (but with a lot of fun).

We stopped by a pizza place to pick up some pizza on the way home, and as soon as we where home, the smell of pizza drew the remaining three brothers to the kitchen, Raphael the last one to arrive. Mikey, who could barely wait to dig in, had already swallowed to pieces of pizza when Raphael emerged.

"Pizza! Sweet, I'm starving." He said, walking around the table for a good spot.

"There's no pizza for you." I said, trying to hold a good poker face to hide the teasing in the situation.

Raphael frowned, stopping abruptly and giving me a serious are-you-kidding-me look. I fought a smirk, although I think it was noticeable, and looked at my slice of pizza pretending to be thinking deeply. If he was just a tad smart he would know why his brothers could have pizza and not him.

"I'm sorry to break it to you, but that's not your decision to make." He said and cocked an eyebrow.

"I bought the pizza, so I decide." I said, taking a bite of my slice, raising an eyebrow in challenge towards him.

Besides Mikey who was playing a video game and eating at the same time, Leo and Donny looked like they were trying to suffocate laughs, trying to eat their pizza as casually as possible considering the situation. Raphael looked baffled, not knowing what the nature of my statement was. It was fun to watch him thrown off like that, but after what Mikey had told me before our shopping trip, I couldn't help but to take Raphael's hostile behavior a bit more lightly.

"And why can't I have any?" He asked, starting to walk to my side of the table. Apparently food was touchy subject.

"I don't know... Maybe because you've been acting like a douchebag." I said like it was a matter of fact and frowned at him.

"Maybe you should just apologize Raph." Leo said from beside me.

He walked straight to me, his eyes stern and piercing as he looked down at me. I looked straight back at him from my seat, fighting the urge to flinch away at his suddenly close proximity. I could tell by his look, that I wasn't going to get an apology from him, especially not when one of his brothers had told him to.

"You shouldn't come between a turtle and his pizza." He said in a dangerously low voice, like he was trying to press down his irritation.

"It's not yours, it's mine." I snapped back.

I was starting to feel tense at the staring contest and the fact that this boy of muscles and temperament was towering over me so closely.

"Just give him some pizza already." Mikey said, not looking up from his game.

"Fortunately I'm stronger than you so I'll just take a slice anyway." Raphael smirked smugly down at me as he mentioned to walk around me.

I put a hand firmly on his plastron to stop him, recognizing the feel of the smooth and scratched surface. It threw me off for a second, like I'd been caught in doing something naughty. Raphael however was unaffected, cocking an eyebrow at me like I was stupid, and luckily failing to notice that my cheeks were heating up. He rolled his eyes and grabbed my head with his arm in a shift movement, and shoved me off my chair, holding my head in a lock by my neck by his rips.

"Hey!" I yelled as he forced me to tuck along and grabbed a slice of pizza nonchalantly.

"And that's how it's done." He said, sounding satisfied as I squirmed around his grip.

I grabbed his arm with one hand, trying to pry free, and went to punching his shield with my other arm although that was seriously pointless.

"Some help here guys?" I said, even though I couldn't see any of them do to my position.

"You had it coming June." I heard Donny say.

I sighed as Raphael laughed moving me with him in the rhythm of his laughter. I was going say yes eventually anyway but the brothers seemed to stick together, even in this situation. Someone entered the room and I could only assume it was Splinter.

"I thought I could smell pizza." He said as I still lingered in Raphael's grip.

He seemed to halt, and I tried to look back at him to give him a pleading look but without success.

"What is going on?" He asked, his foreign accent making it even easier to recognize his voice.

"Just eating some pizza." Raphael said casually, but with a glimpse of humor in his eyes.

I didn't know if it would work, but I'd been babysitting a few kids now and then so I knew a bit about teasing small boys. Raphael wasn't a small boy, he was seventeen, but he had the potential to be one of those guys that would react visibly to someone teasing him about liking someone.

"Splinter, you should teach Raphael that liking someone doesn't mean you can force them to be close to you. I mean this is a going a bit overboard." I said, trying to peep over the edge of the table.

I heard the suffocated laughs of Leo and Donny, as Raphael's arm started to loosen.

"W-what?" He said in a high pitched voice, releasing me and leaping away like I was a something disgusting.

"That was easy." I muttered, straightening my back and rubbing my neck.

"Raphael, if that is true, you do not understand the mind of girls." Splinter said, a teasing glimpse in his eyes evident.

Raphael clenched his hands annoyed, and shot his laughing brothers a glare.

"It wasn't because I like her!" He cried out.

Mikey was quick to join the teasing, stopping his gameboy for a second.

"Raphi and June, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g." He sang coursing Raphael to clench his fist and boil in irritation.

"Shut up!" He yelled at his younger brother and tackled him to the ground.

I laughed along with Donny and Leo while Raphael was handing out dump-slaps to Mikey. Raphael was to proud to let comments like this go unnoticed and seemingly Mikey was paying the price.

"Raphael." Splinter said in a high demanding voice.

Everyone went silent, Raphael folding his arms behind his back while glaring at Mikey who got up slowly. I didn't know Splinter very well, but he really knew how to make the brothers listen. Seemingly, he was the only person the turtles respected in a high degree.

"If you like a girl, you should buy her flowers." A smile broke on Splinters face as he choked a laugh.

A roar of laughter exploded around the table, apart from Raphael who stood with folded arms and looked like he was about to explode. Mikey was down on the floor, rolling in laughter, and I got the feeling that it wasn't that often anyone dared to tease the hot-headed Raphael. It felt good to lighten the mood, even if it was on behalf of Raphael but he'd seriously have to stop acting like such a douchebag if he didn't mind me being around anyway.

"Ha-ha, very funny guys!" Raphael said, brooding sullenly.

I manned up the slightest, impulsively deciding to rub this in a little harder. I walked around Leo and Donny to Raphael smiling sweetly at the sour turtle.

"Well, Raphi-" I put an arm around his shoulders and peeped at his face, trying to make my smile alluring. He glared at me slightly surprised, his body language going stiff- "flowers would be very nice! Seems like your master knows more about girls than you do."

Another wave of laughter echoed in the kitchen and Raphael gave me a nasty glare, removing my arm from around his shoulder by bending my middle finger in a way that forced me to remove my arm. I winced, bending my knees until he released my finger and left the kitchen sullenly while muttering "whatever".

.

I borrowed their bathroom after pizza, and was looking forward to washing myself up. Donny had warned me to not get my upper arm with the cut wet, but I already knew that. After having turned on the shower, I took a minute to look at myself in the mirror. One word; I looked horrid. My face was dirty, and my hair was a greasy and darker than usual. It was the first time since meeting Raphael that I really had a moment to myself and I stared at the image of my blue eyes looking sadly back at me. I'd always known I was fairly attractive, but right now I don't think I was even attractive to the mutants. I sighed, starting to feel all the turmoil from the past days swell up in me again and brushed my hair back with my fingers. Taking in a deep breath I tried to remain in control, but failed as tears started form in my eyes.

What was I doing here? My mom didn't even know a thing about what was going on in my life... No one really did, except my grandparents who called me fairly often. I breathed out heavily again as my heartbeat started to pick up. Not again, I thought feeling a panic attack sneaking up on me. The panicking thoughts hit me again; what was wrong with me? How could I stay down here with strangers, with mutants. With mutants! The fact that mutants even existed was so surreal. I bend down, starring at the floor as exhaled quickly.

Calm yourself, calm yourself, I kept telling myself. I had a shower running. I nice warm shower. My breathing slowed and my head stopped swirling slowly. I stood up again, feeling the sweat in my forehead and my lip. I knew enough about psychology to know that I was starting have minor panic attacks and it definitely not a good thing. But the turtles shouldn't know that. I already knew they were good guys, despite being ninjas seeming innocent and good natured. I was afraid it would hurt them to know I reacted this way, and there's was no way around it once they knew.

The warm water was soothing as it sprayed my body and relaxed my muscles. I stayed in the shower a bit longer than anticipated after I'd washed my hair in a cheap shampoo. The silence afterwards was earsplitting. I knew now that I had to accept my new position down here and adapt as long as it took to brush the foot-clan suspicion off of me.

I brushed my hair through and brushed my teeth, starting to feel as good as new. Putting can the new clothes I could really smell how bad my old clothes had been smelling and felt immediately ashamed about having walked around like that. Once again I was reminded about how blunt Raphael could be about things, but he'd definitely not been lying when I said I was stinking. My cheeks heated up in embarrassment; I had been so not attractive in any way. Well maybe I could turn things around now, when I didn't smell and look so disgusting. I put on some tight jeans and a black top, and let my hair hang so it could ry properly.

On my way out of the bathroom I clumsily dropped some of my old clothes, and failed to notice that everyone was in the living area. I'd been so caught up in the silence of the bathroom that it took me by surprise that so many people hadn't seen me cleaned up except for Raphael when I'd found him.

"I'm done." I said shyly, although no one has noticed me coming out yet.

The casual look Raphael threw at me before he turned to spar with Mikey, and then faltering and looking back at me, sent my cheeks flushing red all over again. I was being too self conscious at moment, and had no idea why I reacted this way to the strange look he gave me, taking me in from head to toe. I was usually pretty confident, never shy, but then again; I'd never met anyone like him or his brothers. Just an hour ago I'd been teasing him about liking me and now I felt like small teenage girl, unsure about her womanly abilities. I jerked when Raphael was hit in the head with Mikey's nunchaku and ripped out of whatever state of mind he was in.

"Too distracted by your girlfriend, huh?" Mikey said provokingly, coursing Raphael to growl and glare at his younger brother and leaping after him.

Oh god, I'd only been here two days and I'd already started the "your girlfriend"-thing. I sighed, my shyness slipping away as I walked over to the couch where Leo sat, watching a space cartoon.

Not long after they all left me to go on patrol to check out my neighborhood and to watch for any signs of the Foot clan. That meant I was left alone with Splinter for quite a while who invited me to come and meditate with him. I'd never meditated before but the idea had always appealed to me, so it was quite interesting to experience.

Apparently the turtles lived for protecting people in the city. The idea was almost laughable at first but they were quite serious about it and had committed their life to protecting people and themselves.

Two days went by quickly without speaking much with Raphael. The other brothers seemed to have taken a liking in me, and often invited me to do things with them. Mikey was especially easy to talk to and have fun with. He liked listening to music, playing the arcade, watching movies and all kinds of stuff.

But this particular day, the evening of the second day I was alone with Donny and Raphael. I was helping out Donny with screwing together some gadgets, which I wasn't naturally good at as he, but it felt nice to be of some use. I was starting to feel really comfortable around the turtles, and was shocked at how different other guys could be, when I compared them to the boys at my school. My knees and arm were getting better already and I was starting to look forward to be able to come home again. Raphael was in his room, probably working out or reading comics.

"Oh when you're done with that, I'll stitch up your wound." Donny said casually, having finished one of his gadgets.

"Are you still on to that? I didn't think it was necessary." I said as he got up to gather some things.

"Of course, or you'll get a pretty nasty scar." He said, leaving to his room.

"Not going to happen." I muttered.

Really, the thought of someone stitching up that sore wound I had, without anesthetics, was horrifying! I'd really hoped to avoid the subject, but Donny seemed intend on the necessity of it.

"You ready?"

I jerked when Donny walked up behind me and started unwrapping the wound on my arm.

"Hey! What? No!" I ripped my arm away, putting down the gadget I was working and looked at him in mortification.

He looked slightly startled at my reaction, his hands hanging in the air where my arm had been. He hoped over the back of the couch and sat down beside me patiently.

"Don't you have any anethstetics?" I asked him wide eyed.

"Um, no." He said and shrugged.

He reached out for my arm again, this time more insistingly and I basically jumped to my feet, starting to get the creeps.

"Look, I really don't need any stitching." I said, starting to back away.

Donny looked at me like I was stupid, starting to stalk me questionably.

"Okay, just calm down June. It's not as bad as it sounds." Donny said, carefully walking closer to me like a was a spooked deer.

"I'm serious! I don't want any stitching." I said, realizing that I maybe did look quite scared to Donny.

"Okay. Just..." Donny leaped at me like catching a rabbit and I jumped away with a squeak, running frantically over the couch to avoid him.

"Stand still, it'll be over in a second!" Donny said, starting to grow frustrated which was something only Mikey could make him express.

"No!" I cried, dodging him a second time even though he was amazingly fast. I knocked over a small statue of Buddha in the process, Donny pitching forward to catch it before it hit the floor.

I jerked startled when Raphael opened his door behind me, looking annoyed at Donny on the floor and then at me.

"What's going on?" He asked furrowing his eyebrows at me.

Donny got up looking irritated and brushed himself off;

"I need to stitch up June's wound but she won't let me."

Raphael looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and I suddenly felt small under his stern gaze. I was kind of afraid to be stitched up, but at the same time excited about communicating with Raphael for real once again. I realized suddenly he was smirking at me, a charming teasing smirk only he could have. I wasn't quick enough to interpret the reason behind the smirk, and was to late to pitch away when he caught my healthy arm, and pressed a finger into a pressure point, forcing me to stop struggling even before I had begun.

"Auch! That hurts." I whined as he started to tuck me along.

"Where do you want her?" He asked Donny, ignoring my whining.

"Can you maybe put her in the couch?" Donny said satisfied, and walked along with Raphael and I.

"No no no no no no, please don't do this." I whined again, turning to Raphael to beg him to release me.

He laughed outright, applying more pressure with his finger to make me stop and walked me to the couch, his strong arm moving me to sit at it.

"Alright, just sit still." Donny said sitting down beside me, resuming to unwrap the bandage.

"No!" I cried out, kicking out and ripping my arm to myself.

I kicked Raphael's plastron right in the middle, startling him slightly and coursing his own stubborn will to come out.

"Jeez! You frisky little thing!" He cursed, grabbing the wrist of my wounded arm and maneuvered around my legs.

I struggled girlishly and wildly with him, squirming to get free from his grasp.

"You're such a wuss!" He said, starting to get fired up when I almost hit his face with my hand.

But I really didn't want to get stitched up, I was afraid it would hurt too bad. He ended up straddling me between his legs, pressing his heavy body and strong plastron onto me upper body to keep me from squirming. He'd separated my wounded arm and my hard by putting his own head in between by my shoulder, and stretched out my wounded hand with his arm along the back of the sofa. As we were still sitting up straight I could really feel how strong he actually was.

"Now Donny!" He said loudly, and Donny was quick cease the opportunity and went to unwrap my arm immediately.

I could barely breath with Raphael's plastron against my chest.

"I don't want to. Please let me go Raphael." I begged, tilting my head backwards in exhaustion.

He looked at me out of the corner if his eyes right beside me, and I suddenly became aware of how close we were. Although he seemed unaffected, I felt his hot breathing hit my ear, and suddenly didn't know what to do with myself. I looked away, seeing over the top of his flexed shoulder that ended into a large bulge on a strong arm, which held mine. I gulped, wondering if he was as aware as me. Despite being green he had such a great body and it was right up against me. I don't think I'd ever been so close to such a hot body before.

"Someone went silent." Raphael said into my ear and I sensed him smirk.

I chill ran down my spine, and I suppressed the urge shiver. Did he know I was checking him out? No, he was way to innocent to know what he was doing to me. Donny got the wrapping off, and my train if thoughts continued: why was I reacting this way? I'd never felt... I didn't want to put a words to the feeling, but couldn't deny it either; I'd never felt so attracted to someone in this degree before. I'd known him for what? Five days maybe. What was wrong with me?! Was I the definition of 'slut'? No a 'fetish-slut' attracted to a guy that was half human half turtle, just because he had muscles. Well, if he would let me in his personally is quite nice too, I stopped myself when I felt the sting of the needle going through the skin and my wound.

"Oh god!" I winced through gritted teeth, leaning my head into Raphael's shoulder.

I struggled briefly against Raphael's grip though it was pointless. He was like a stubborn wall against me. I growled at the next sting, wanting to bite Raphael. It didn't hurt so badly, but it was the fact that the wound sore that made the feeling worse. I tried to concentrate on Raphael instead, feeling the rise of chest and the heat that rolled of him. It reminded me of the secure feeling I'd had with him when we went to sleep at my place the first day. I turned my face into his neck and closed my eyes.

**Raphael's POV**.

He would never admit that June was starting to grow on him. He was becoming less reluctant to speaking with her and just accept her presence as he hated being the only one of his brothers to keep a distance. He hadn't given it much thought though, but had ceased this opportunity to interact with her, even if she hated him for it. He hadn't put much thought into it, except getting her pined so Donny could do his work, but when she put her head on his shoulder and he felt the hot breath against the base of his neck, something in him rushed through him. He could only compare it to an adrenalin kick, but knew it was something else. He'd never had girl this close to him, an attractive beautiful girl for that matter, and found himself struggling on concentrating on holding her firmly. The hot breath kept hitting his skin, starting to send chills through the skin by the feminine breath. Her hair had a fruity scent with a hint of coconut, which dazed him briefly.

He fought and pushed the feeling away, imagining that she was Mikey and how annoyed he would be about that. Nonetheless couldn't he allow himself to start to enjoy her closeness cause a he knew very well that a girl like her could never feel the same way, not even feel attracted to a mutant like him. He was content with the knowledge that he would never find a girl to share his life with and was by all means avoiding to desire any girl. But there he was taking himself in the very first stage of feeling attracted to a beautiful girl. That was why he'd been reluctant to have her here, and he was just reminded once again. Even admiring from a distance, he knew, could turn into desire. But she was here now and involved, and he didn't have the heart to kick her out to protect himself from anything he might feel.

He closed his eyes annoyed when she growled once again, letting the hot breath hit him. She was taking a comfort in him, he felt, and wondered why she did that after the way he'd been treating her. It got to him... She got to him. It was hard to treat her so badly when she was being nice by leaving him alone. Leaning into him instead of away, meant more than she possibly knew.

"Aaand it's done. That wasn't that bad was it." Donny said.

Raphael looked at the fine stitching his brother had made, and released his hold on June. Not wasting a moment to do so. She breathed out and leaned back again with closed eyes, and Raphael lingered over her to see if she was okay.

"About time." She breathed.

"Are you okay?" He asked and chuckled at her.

"No!" She said, and punched the chest of his plastron.

He held his arms out in confused defense returning the scowl she was giving him with those blue eyes staring back at him. He chuckled briskly at her sullen expression, looking like a child who'd had her candy stolen. She folded her arms over her chest and looked away sourly. He tried to read her expression, finding her behavior kind of amusing. Her blue eyes flickered up to his as a smile started to break through on her face, although it was obvious she was trying to hide it.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" He asked her, smirking sincerely down at her.

"Asshole." She muttered, a smile playing on her lips.

**June's POV**

I could see now I'd been overreacting, but why was he still straddling me and hovering over me with that gorgeous body?! Was he teasing me? Did he know I felt attracted? He laughed when I called him an asshole, his bright green eyes gleaming teasingly. I don't know what had happened inside him, but I suddenly saw a more softer and sincere side of him.

"So, when you guys are finished could I maybe wrap up the wound?"

I flushed red at Donny's tone as Raphael got off of me looking slightly insulted. It was hard to make him look embarrassed, even when I was blushing he never had the same reaction.

"Thank you." Donny said, and moved to wrap up my arm again.

I gave Raphael a crooked sheepish smile at his irritated expression and saw him soften slightly. I took myself in feeling flattered about making Raphael relax, even if it was the tiniest of bits.

At night when we were settled around the television, me in my "bed" on the couch with my blanket, Leo and Mikey on the floor and Raphael on my right side and Donny on my left. There had been a pleasant silence in the group, and I was even surprised Raphael was being, well, neutral or indifferent instead of downright mean. I couldn't figure out if he'd softened at seeing me "suffer" earlier or if we'd just had a moment of some kind if mutual understanding. I was eating a slice of pizza, starting to grow tired of it, when Raphael startled me by speaking to me lowly, trying not to interrupt the movie.

"June?" He whispered.

I looked at him briefly still engulfed in the scene and replied with a "hm?" tilting my head to show him I was listening.

"I-" Raphael halted and dragging out the "I" before stopping.

Watching the scene I waited for him to continue, realizing that this was the first time Raphael was talking to me, sounding sincerely normal, no sarcasm of teasing evident in his voice. My eyes flickered to him in question after a moment when he didn't continue and I took a bite of my slice when I saw he looked sternly at the television, looking like he had an inner battle.

"What?" I asked with a mouth full of pizza as I tried to sound indifferent, hiding the curiosity the started to grow in me.

He seemed to sigh while I studied his side-profile in the dim light of the television, blue light bouncing off of his profound cheekbones. His fierce green eyes scowled thoughtfully at the television, the image of the screen flickering across the frail glass-like surface of his eyes. I could see his jaw clench repeatedly and wondered what could suddenly get him so stiff. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped and then seemed to force his eyes to mine.

"Thank you for helping me." He said pressing the words out like they hurt in his throat-" and I'm sorry for coursing you any pain."

His eyes flickered down to my arm before he looked away again. I stared at him shocked. He wasn't stupid. It wasn't just my arm he was referring to, but my mental health too, considering he'd been so hard to me. I basically wanted to give him a big hug for letting down his pride for me, but restrained myself. Despite acting insensitive, he was in fact very sensitive. He knew very well that I was suffering from having no one around and having put my life in danger for him as I'd done.

"Thank you for saying that. That means a lot to me." I said, clenching his wrist confirmingly once, trying to not make him look so stiff and uncomfortable.

He moved uncomfortably at my touch, the muscles by his nose wrinkling slightly as if it took an effort for him to stay in place.

"Yeah well don't get too used to it." He said, stubbornly crossing his arms while pouting.

"Dude, shh!" Mickey shushed at us, rolling his eyes subtly.

.

Two more days went by like that and the turtles still came home after their visits to the surface saying the Foot clan was still patrolling my neighborhood. There still wasn't much talking between Raphael and I, but more than before. Our conversations had developed into sentences like "can you pass the milk?" and "can you scoot over?" without being awkward. It was hard for me to strike up an actual conversation with him, as he was good busying himself with something like training, reading or playing the arcade. He spent a lot of time working out and doing moves and forms with his sais to an extend it was indeed admirable.

Sophia had been texting me quite a lot, keeping me updated on what was going on in school; no breaking news whatsoever. Mikey had been quite interested in my texting though, frequently asking what me and Sophia was talking about. I'd grown quite fond of him and he'd helped me pull the inner child in me again. Mikey, Donny and I had worked together in making a couple of speakers for Mikey's room, which had been a great and fun experience from my part as I'd bonded with Donny as well. Mikey had added me on Facebook, and that was also the day I found out that it wasn't just Raphael who had an old name.

Apparently I'd been calling the brothers by their nicknames instead of their real names. The idea that their names originated from Italian renaissance painters was in fact charming and the names were beautiful and different.

"I've always been a great admirer of Leonardo da Vinci." I said to Splinter as he'd told me why he'd picked those names for the turtles.

"Yes, he has long been praised as one of the finest artists of the Renaissance, working far ahead of his time and producing some of the world's most recognizable works." Splinter agreed.

"And his rival was the younger Michelangelo, am I right?" I asked.

"Yes, true." He said and nodded.

"And he was really awesome!" Mikey said, rushing up to make a superhero pose.

"Probably not as awesome as Raphael." Guess who said, having interrupted his throwing session.

"Didn't he die at an early age? At thirty seven or something?" I asked Splinter.

He nodded agreeingly, closing his eyes in thought as he stroke his long beard.

"Probably because he was hot-headed and aggressive." I muttered, purposely letting Raphael hear it.

I tried to hide a smirk, but failed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raphael snapped at me, moving to the couch area where Splinter and I sat.

"Italians are known to be hot-headed." I said as if it was obvious and rolled my eyes teasingly at him.

He growled lowly before he gave me a dope-slap across my neck, pushing my hair in front of my face.

"Hey!" I whined through a bush of hair, brushing to the side to see him smirk teasingly at me.

The smile was charming and daring, the challenge his eyes held sending a stream of excitement through at the game. I laughed

"Hey guys!" A female voice called but I firstly realized when Raphael turned his head in her direction.

I followed his gaze, seeing a red headed girl at my age entering. I recognized her immediately as April O'niel, not from my class, but from school. I knew her as the strange girl no one knew much about. Solely by reputation I knew her name and that she was ambitious and intelligent. Immediately I was struck with a feeling of jealousy and it didn't help much Raphael and the other brothers gave her a comradely hug. It was obvious they were close to her. I swallowed the jealousy, there was no need for that, and smiled at her when her eyes found me.

"Oh, you have a guest." She said, returning the smile and walking past the turtles that swarmed her.

"Hi, you must be April." I said, offering my hand to shake.

"And you must be June." She answered, putting down her bag beside me.

"How did you know that?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in question.

"Donny mentioned you a few times... We were texting." She said, smiling sheepishly her eyes flickering to Donny.

Her manner left a strange impression on me and I tried to ignore it without success. I looked over my shoulder where Donny was fidgeting around.

"We have been working on a few things together I guess." I said with a shrug, wondering if I could stir up any hint of jealousy regarding me and Donny having spent time together.

Nothing in her smile faltered, but her eyes changed for a few seconds when looking at me. Raphael startled her when he came up to her and punched her lightly in the stomach.

"Your reflexes aren't good enough April." He said, flashing her the same charming smile he'd flashed at me moments ago.

I don't think he knew how teasing his smile was, it came naturally to him and fitted his personality well.

"Of course not! I'm not in shape at the moment." She whined, rubbing her stomach.

"You can come and train with us later today. Me and Raph'll make sure to get your reflexes back in shape." Leo said, looking expectantly down at her.

Leo and Raphael looked good beside each other as the two dominant brothers of the bunch standing challenging beside each other, towering over April. I didn't know however a guy like Raphael had accepted Leonardo's role as the leader although I could clearly see why Leonardo had been chosen, as he demanded authority naturally, whereas Raphael was more intimidating and violent.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that." She said teasingly, cocking an eyebrow at the both of them.

The pinch of jealousy hit me again, not because I wasn't invited to train with them, but because Raphael treated her as a friend. The difference of treatment between April and me was downright obvious and it made me feel like a had a long road ahead of me to ever be that important to him.

"Hey April, you wanna come and see the speakers Mikey, June and I build?" Donny called, finally finished fidgeting around with them.

"Sure!" She chirped happily, jumping over the back of the couch towards Donny, followed by Leo and Raphael.

I kept still by the couch, looking after them with a slight smile on my face. I thought I'd become close to the brothers, but now when I saw them with April my hope faded a bit. Something inside me, a little annoying voice, told me I wasn't good enough to win their affection and friendship. I knew the thought was stupid, the brothers didn't know many people, and seemed to like anyone that wanted to be their friend, especially Mikey.

Splinter chuckled beside me, and I looked at him surprised almost having forgotten he was there.

"It is joyful to see some rivalry for my boys." He said, his eyes resting on the group gathered around the speakers.

"Rivalry? I think you've misunderstood something." I lied with a cocked eyebrow.

Had my jealousy been that obvious? I really didn't hope so.

"They're good boys. Any girl would be lucky to win the love of any of them." He said, ignoring what I'd said.

A fatherly love shined in his eyes which warmed my heart. I knew he was right about that and if the brothers had looked human they probably would've gotten a lot of attention in school. Though it was a bit out of context, apparently Splinter had picked up something I hadn't. I just hoped it wasn't from me but from April.

"Guess you're right about that." I admitted, watching how enthusiastically Donny was speaking with April.

I got up with a sigh, deciding to play social and joined the friends. Mikey looked up at me from his place on the floor in front of the speaker, his big blue eyes smiling at me when I neared. Immediately I felt welcome into the group by his look, and stood next to Leonardo while listening to Donny's explanation about who made what of the speaker.

"As you can hear my skills went as far as screwing things together." I said with a bit of sarcasm in my voice.

"Impressive." She answered jokingly.

"Yeah, like Justin Biebers hair." I said and chuckled, hoping she wasn't a fanatic fan.

"Oh god, did you see the tattoo he got?" She said, turning to me fully now with a shocked expression.

"Uh yeah! What's up with the badass image?" I said, furrowing my eyebrows.

"I know, right!" April bursted out.

"Um, girls if you don't mind, you kind of interrupted me." Donny said timidly.

I suddenly looked at the four turtles who stood speechless, looking between me and April in what I could only describe as horrified. I snickered at their expressions and so did April. Apparently they weren't used to girl-talk at its worst.

"Why don't you play something? April must have a song she likes." I said gesturing to her iPhone.

"Oh, sure. I have a song I listen to a lot these days." She said, taking the plug from Donatello with a shy smile.

It didn't go unnoticed by me, and not Raphael either who rolled his eyes at Donny. The bass sounded sending pleasant funk rhythms through me.

"That's such a good song! It's the new one from Daft Punk." I said, starting to feel excited.

I moved my shoulders and legs subtly to the special rhythm the song presented and enjoyed it.

"Yeah, can't enough of it at the time being." She said, smiling at the way I moved.

Mikey was the first one to join in and it didn't surprise me. He was not holding back though, compared to me who was only moving subtly and rhythmically.

"Come on Leo." I said, nudging him in the side with my hips.

He laughed uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his head. I caught Raphale's eyes catching a hint of amusement and surprise hidden in them. I almost lashed at his weakness and he noticed immediately, his eyes flickering away.

"Jeez, you guys are so... Disciplined." I said and stopped, looking at the the three remaining brothers and April who were all to awkward to dance even the slightest.

Everything went casually form there on. April was easy to talk to, but to busy with talking with the curious brothers she hadn't seen in a long time. I busied myself with one of Donatello's books about anatomy on the couch. The daily routine I'd grown accustomed to was broken with Aprils presence and it didn't bother me to have some time for myself and actually feeling okay about it. The week was over soon, and I wasn't sure how long I could keep skipping school without making Sophia suspicious. I knew I would have to leave this place eventually, and the thought was starting to make me sad.

"You are a healer, yes?" I looked up to see Splinter looking down at me with hands folded on his back.

"I guess." I said not sure where he was going with it.

"A good quality and a necessary ally for all warriors. Do you wish to develop your skills?"

The question took me by surprise, but the meaning of it struck me hard. I looked over my shoulder at Raphael who was challenging April to do push ups. I'd not taken it serious when they were going out in the streets at night, but I realized that their profession was indeed dangerous and damaging. I could never imagine what they went through and I'd been so lucky as to never see them return hurt, except for Raphael. But it might happen, and the thought made my heart ache. The thought of someone hurting such innocent, good hearted guys forced me to hold my breath for a second while still looking at Raphael.

"Of course, but I need a finish school and start a medical degree in order to-" Splinter cut me off abruptly by putting up his hand.

"No. I do not mean for you to become a doctor. I mean to teach you healing. To teach you how to use your chi to help the process of healing and to ease the pain." He sat down beside me, raising an eyebrow at me.

"... What? How?" I asked and closed my book feeling skeptical and intrigued at the same time.

"Chi is the basic energy that is the "alive" living electricity aspect of our biology. Chi leaves the body when we die and without Chi we are just a collection of organic matter. Chi is responsible for the repairing and healing of our body." Splinter looked ahead, his mind searching for words.

"If more chi can be focused to an area that needs healing then it will heal faster. Also, often an injured area tends to block chi due to tension and trauma in and around the area. I will teach you this if you are willing. I feel you will have great abilities if you master this." He explained and continued.

"I will teach you how to control your reactions to stress so that life events do not cause such symptoms as high blood pressure, frustration, or anxiety." He peeped at me form the corner of his eyes, and I felt a pang of guilt rush through me. Did he know I was having panic attacks?

"This sounds very abstract." I admitted skeptically.

"The book you are reading is good, but not good enough. You can start by reading a book about Acupressure whenever you decide to read." He said and got up from the couch, bowing slightly to me and then turning to leave.

"Hey June, wanna join us for a game of hide and survive?" I turned around to Donny who'd spoken to me.

"Hide and survive? Sounds serious, what's it about?" I asked.

"Usually we play it in the sewers but because you and April haven't tried it before we'll limit it to here-" he held out his arms gesturing to the living area and the rest of their home-"but the its like hide and seek, except we turn of the lights and make it a game of survival. Whoever is it has to drag the ones he's found to the couch, you can fight back, which also means that if you're it you have the right to inflict pain if the found one isn't corporative or tries to run away."

I looked at him slightly startled, sensing that the turtles took this game seriously. It wasn't just for fun, but about imagining ourself into a tense situation, making the game more than what it was... I wasn't sure if I had the guts to play a game that scary.

"Come on it'll be fun. I haven't tried it either." April called to me.

"Okay." I said with a shrug and smiled.

Raphael laughed loudly, running excited to the couch and jumping over it before he spun around.

"I'm it! And I'm going to make you scared shitless!" He said pointing rudely at me with both his hands.

Even though it was just a game I couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by the fact he'd made the game personal.

"Come on Raph you always start out first." Mikey whined.

"Yeah, because I call first and I'm going to count to sixty and all of you better be gone!" Raph said.

"Wait, how-" April said but was interrupted by a loud "one!"

"Oh god, we better hide!" Donny said, sprinting away along with Leo and Mickey.

"Two!"

I jumped to my feet in a sudden adrenalin rush, seeing April move confused and excited to look around for a place to hide.

"Oh my god, I don't know where to hide!" I hissed, although Raphael could still hear us.

"Three!"

"Go that way, I'll go this way!" She hissed back running and tiptoeing and the same time.

I didn't know why I suddenly got so excited about (basically) hide and seek, but I'd had no time since I was asked and to now. I rushed into the training room, my heart rate doubled for no reason and went to the tree growing at the far end, only to be shoved away by Leo who'd already taken it. I rushed to the kitchen where Mikey was hiding, and moved on, starting to feel stressed at the lack of time. I had to find a place to hide. I hadn't played a game like this since I was a kid and was getting frustrated that I still got so excited about it. Thought I was more mature then that. I ran into the living area where Raph was still counting, having reached forty. I leaped into Leo's room just when all the light was shut off. I stood behind the closed door, catching my breath startled and fumbled for my cellphone for light. Wide eyed and held out my phone in Leo's room, realizing there wasn't anywhere else but the bed to hide, before I leaped under the bed, crawling all the way to the wall to make sure no one could find me. I curled up, fumbling to shut off my cellphone, and was then left in utter darkness and silence except for the sound of my own breathing.

Breathing hard I fought to calm myself down, turning the adrenalin into excitement for the game instead. I flinched when I heard turmoil from the living area... Someone was struggling hard against Raphael.

I waited and waited, remembering that the turtles were trained ninjas and Raphael was light on his feet. Two more times I heard turmoil and again was left to be tormented by the silence that followed. I kept telling myself that nothing would happen if he found me, but then again, it was Raphael and he'd sworn to scare me, so he already was.

Catching my breath I listened to the door creek open. I put a hand to my mouth to silence myself and listened the light footsteps that crossed the floor slowly. I took in a deep needed breath, wide eyed listening to the darkness that surrounded me. In the dim blue light Leo's morning clock was giving off I could make out the figure of a turtle foot by the edge of the bed. I fought to keep silent, making sure my breathing was quiet even though I felt like I was suffocating. Raphael, I assumed, went out of my vision range again, seeming to go to the door. I heard it click shut, then followed by a tense silence as I didn't dare to breath out heavily yet.

A panicked scream left my mouth as a large hand grabbed my upper arm;

"There you are!" Raphael said, deliberately working a thick edge of menace into his tone.

He dragged me quickly out from under the bed and I rolled to my back when he tried to pick me up. I fought against his strong arms who tried to maneuver around my frantically kicking legs. He laughed at me although I was scared to my bones, caught up in the reality of the game. I could barely see him in the dark, but could only make out his side in the dim blue light.

"You fight like a girl June." He said, seeming amused with my pathetic try to keep him at bay.

"You fight like a girl!" I snapped back, causing him to laugh again.

"You asked for it." I said as if it was a matter if fact.

Now I can't describe the next thing that happened properly as I couldn't see anything, but it felt like he swooped around my legs, clung himself to my left one and smashed his feet onto my stomach and landed on the ground with a large thud with his head by my feet, straddling my leg while pushing and bending it in a way that hurt immensely. I was sure it was about to break...

"Jesus mother fucker!" I spat, not able find enough curses that fitted the pain well.

"Do you give up?" He asked.

"Oh my god!" I spat again as he worsened the pain.

"Do you give up?!" He asked again pushing until I was sure my knee was going dislocate.

"Yes! Yes! I give up!" I growled.

He released his hold on me and I breathed out heavily, grateful that it was dark so he couldn't see my watering eyes. He swooped himself up easily, while I took a moment to recover.

"That freaking hurt. You could've broken my leg." I said, trying not to sound too whiny.

"It's supposed to hurt and I know how much pressure I'm supposed to add to break the leg. Do you really think I would do that?" He asked, chuckling slightly.

"... No." I admitted in defeat.

"Good. Come on up so I can find the last one." He said.

I got up feeling defeated, and he took a grip in my upper arm to lead me into the living area.

"I don't think I've ever met a girl as feisty as you." He said, sounding like he was admitting it.

I was about to ask him if he'd ever met any other girls than me and April but managed to change the sentence as it was on my tongue.

"You mean apart from yourself?" I snapped sarcastically.

He applied pressure to a pressure point where he was holding me, just as he opened the door and I flinched at the playful punishment for my remark.

"That scream you have is mortifying." Leo said from the couch.

The lighting was better in the large living area and I could make out the people sitting there; Leo, April and Donny.

"Sorry, Raphael startled me." I said as I was placed in the couch with the others.

Raphael spent a decent amount of time to find Mikey, who snuck by unnoticed a couple of times to every one (except Raphael's) amusement. But he was found eventually and then we went to second round where Donny was it.

I was found second first, and was apparently bad at finding good hiding spots. I didn't have the guts to walk around unnoticed like the turtles did sometimes. Third round Leo was it. I had serious trouble with coming up with good places to hide and was starting to get disappointed with myself. I walked frantically around for a good place to hide in Donny's lab when Leo had reached fifty-five and panicked when he reached sixty and the utter silence surrounded me. He was going to find me if I didn't find a place to hide immediately. I listened to the footsteps that neared the lab, and squeaked muffled when a hand covered my mouth from behind and dragged me into a what seemed to be locker. A turtle turned me around abruptly to face him and I could make out Rapahel's broad form, and the green eyes starring back at me;

"Shhh!" He shushed still covering my mouth with his large hand but released it as I kept silent.

I was fully aware of how close we stood and I could feel the rising movement of his plastron against my chest while he seemed to be listening intensely. His right hand was grabbing my wrist like I was going to run anyway and do something stupid at any moment. Warmth was radiating from him, urging me to lean into his comfort. I still couldn't figure out what it was about him that made me react this way but I felt it and it was like torture to not react to it.

Raphael snapped his head to me, to see if I was listening too and then he suddenly got aware as I. He seemed to catch his breath when looking down at me. He released my wrist instantly and I was shocked to see him show such kind if 'weakness' all of a sudden. But I only thought it natural as he didn't interact much with girls and clearly had no interest in them either. I couldn't look away form the softness showing in his eyes and he stared right back. I felt his arm move while I was to aware to not stay my ground and not lean forward. His breath came down at me and I was like wrapped up in a cocoon of the feeling he brought. He gulped;

"You should take that shaft to the living area." He said dryly, his eyes flickering at me.

I snapped back to reality, glad he couldn't see me blushing and looked around the locker although I could barely see a thing.

"Last time I did that I got my knees pretty scratched up. Not going there again." I whispered to him.

He seemed to frown, also snapping the tough look up again and tried to move around me.

"Fine, then I'll go." He whispered annoyed and started to maneuver around me.

The space was awkwardly little and he put his hands in my shoulder to move around and then crawled up on a shelf.

"I don't think you can fit Raphael." I whispered as he started to crawl inside.

"Shut up." He hissed, getting his arms and shoulders inside the shaft.

When his shield reached it was stuck although he struggled to get through. The image was hilarious as he hang from the wall, trying to push himself further into the shaft. I almost spat in my hand when I suffocated a laugh and laughed soundlessly.

"Your shield is too fat." I squeaked and laughed again.

"What? You can't say that. It doesn't even make sense!" He growled muffled from the shaft.

I laughed again, leaning against the bookcase behind me with an open mouth. He tried to get out again by pushing his feet against the wall, making me laugh even harder.

The next thing I knew I got Raphael's shield in the face, his weigh crushing my downward although I was still against the bookcase. He scrambled to get up as I took a moment to recover from the blow to the nose.

"Are you okay?" He whispered as he had turned around to face me. I chuckled at how ridicules the situation was, leaning my head back to deal with the tear stinging pain I that lingered in my nose.

"Shit you have a nosebleed." He whispered, now straddling me at the little space we had.

"I'm fine I'm fine." I whispered to calm him down.

He fumbled for something in the dark and then found a toilet roll and ripped off some paper for me.

"Here!" He hissed at me, shoving the paper into my face.

"This is a dramatic game." I whispered and chuckled, feeling my left hand was filled with blood-" want some of the blame?"

I shoved my hand across his face leaving a trail of blood from his right eyebrow to his left cheek.

"You didn't just do that!" He hissed dangerously low, hovering threateningly over me.

"Woops..." I said and snickered at his frowning expression-" you're probably used to it though."

"That's not funny..." Raphael's tone was just as serious as the day he'd dragged me out of my home, and I caught my breath suddenly feeling embarrassed.

Again there was an aspect of his life I didn't know of. The killing part. Did they seriously kill people? Why weren't they suffering from some kind of post traumatic stress then?

"Sorry." I breathed sincerely, looking up at him, starting to get aware of our closeness again.

He sighed down at me, his breath sweet and warm against me. I felt kind of stupid sitting there under him, trying to stop my nose from bleeding.

"Sorry I made your nose bleed." He said, this time not sounding like it was a struggle for him to say it.

It was progress I thought, that he was starting to relax enough around me to say sorry casually. Clearly he had no problem with physical contact, and had never had from the beginning. There was a thing I could put a finger to on what I liked about him; he didn't treat me like a frail little girl, but treated me like his brothers - violently. He wasn't afraid to throw me around or make me hurt. I liked that for once I wasn't treated carefully like a girl, but was treated like an equal that could take the beating.

"It's fine." I said, rolling my eyes.

"There you are!" I heard Leo say, and was then tackled the ground with Raphael on top of me on his back, and Leo on top of Raphael.

I felt like I was going to be mashed underneath his shield and the weight the two presented. I was just glad my head was free while Leo tried to get Raphael into a lock.

"Dude, you're crushing June! She has a nosebleed!" Raphael growled at his brother, constantly trying to relieve some of the pressure, by lifting Leo somewhat off of him.

"Seriously you're hurting her!" Raphael growled again, but Leo was too caught up in the fight with his strong brother.

I winced at the weigh against my hips, also trying to manage my nosebleed.

"Leonardo!" I winced, smacking him in the head to get him to stop.

"What?" He said dumb-founded, finally realizing I was there too.

Raphael took the opportunity and pushed Leo off of him roughly. Leo stumbled to his feet confused as Raphael rushed off of me just before Leo turned on the light in the room. His eyes widened at Raphael:

"What happened to you?!" He asked, probably seeing the strain of blood across Raphael's face.

Raphael looked confused and dumbly at his brother like he didn't know what he was talking and gestured to me.

"You should ask her that question!" He said.

Leo suddenly looked pale as he looked at me, and Raphael looked startled for a moment. Did I really look that bad? Raphael seemed to realize he'd been crushing me under his shield and stepped forward to me.

"Are you okay?" He asked me again.

"I think so." I said raising myself up on my elbow.

"Your face is filled with blood." He said grabbing the toilet paper again and bending down beside me with a frown.

"I'm so sorry June!" Leo said, pushing Raphael slightly away to peep at me too -"did you guys have a fight?"

"Of course we didn't! What is it with you guys? I would never hurt anyone seriously!" Raphael said, pushing back at Leo and handing me a peace of paper.

"Yeah, I accidentally got Raphael's shield in my face and then got this nosebleed." I said, pushing the peace of paper to my nose again.

Leo laughed slightly, getting up again.

"If you're okay, I'll go and search for Mikey." He said.

"I'm fine, you just go." I answered waving a hand dismissively at him.

Even though I felt a bit roughed up and thought I was going to suffocate under Raphael's shield, I felt alright. Raphael got up and offered me his hand which I took gratefully. He pulled me up easily, waiting to let me go until I stood steadily. He looked down at me slightly concerned, seemingly fixed on me. I smiled sheepishly at his the seriousness in his eyes, feeling slightly self aware under his penetrating eyes.

"Come on, we better wash up. You look like you've been in some kind of massacre." He said, putting his hand on my back to move me out of the locker.

It was evident that his strong staring originated from unpleasant memories I knew nothing of. But I could tell he was thinking and projecting a certain feeling onto the way I looked. I was about to tell him that he looked the one who'd massacred, but stopped as the subject was touchy.

I understood why Raphael and Leo had been staring at me in the locker when I saw myself in the mirror. Blood had run through my nose and down my throat, and was smothered around my face from the fight. Raphael and I stood beside each other in the bathroom looking silently at ourselves in the mirror. I couldn't remember having been alone with him since I met him the first time, and found it strangely relaxing to have him for myself.

"God I look horrid." I said and turned on the water in the sink "you look scary." I said casually, not really thinking before I spoke.

"Tell me something new." He muttered, getting a towel. I looked at him apologetically with a frown.

"I didn't mean it like that, I was referring to the blood in your-" Raphael cut me off, moving to my side unaffected to soak the towel.

"It's fine June. I know you didn't mean it like that. But the fact is that I often have blood splattered across my face. I often look like this..." He trailed off, washing the wet towel across his face before he starred at himself deep in thought.

His eyes held so many emotions, anger, disgust, passion... Once again I felt the urge to give him a hug, and looked back into the sink to let him contemplate on his own. It was hard to see him going through those inner battles. It wasn't the first time I'd seen that look in his eyes, but the other times had only been briefly and I hadn't given them much thought as we rarely interacted.

"Seeing blood across someone's face is scary, no matter who they are. Turtle or man." I said with a shrug and splashed water in my face.

I felt Raphael look down at me curiously as I started to scrub my face off of blood. The sink took the color of a strong red whirling into the middle in disappearing into the drain. I looked up into the mirror and met his eyes. I smiled sheepishly at his strange expression and continued rubbing off the blood. I wanted to throw a compliment at him but didn't have the guts to do so. He cleared his throat and started to rub off the dried blood again:

"I guess you're right about that." He said sincerely.

I smiled and looked up again at him, and then saw myself in the mirror with blood stained hands. A was hit like a bullet with a lightheaded feeling and immediately felt my heart rate start to pick up. I looked quickly into the sink, trying with all in me to stop the early signs of a panic attack. Why did it have to come now?! I forced myself to breath normally and took a hold in the sink as, hoping Raphael wouldn't notice. But nothing went unnoticed by Raphael's eyes and he wasn't the type to just ignore it.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

I gulped, forcing my voice steady before I spoke to him;

"Yeah, the water's just a bit cold." I answered, surprisingly sounding normal enough.

"You know the knob there is for warm water right?" He said, giving me an odd look and turning the knob for hot water.

"Right... Thanks." I said, forcing myself to act normal and feeling my heartbeat slow down.

I washed the rest off silently, while he waited for me to finish so he could clean up his towel. I felt slightly sick, but knew it was only mentally. Raphael gave me a suspicious look before we left the bathroom and met with the others who'd finished the game. The light was back on and April and the others were discussing the game to details. We were both met with confused expression, and was of course asked to explain what had happened. Everyone laughed about the part were Raphael was stuck in the shaft, even though he didn't think it was very funny.

April had taken some food with her, and had left for the kitchen to make dinner, which I looked very much forward to. I joined her eventually in the kitchen as she was making pasta and meatballs, and found her very easy to talk to. Her history with the turtles complicated and I could understand why it was sometimes hard to be with the lovely brothers, knowing they could never have a life on the surface. I wondered deeply if she'd ever been in love with one of the turtles, or had at least felt attracted like I did, somehow towards Raphael. But I didn't dare to ask her even though I'd picked up on some kind of bond between her and Donatello. When she'd told me that her father was a scientist it only confirmed why she would take a special interest in the scientific one of the turtles. She'd been training much with Splinter to become a kunoichi, and had experienced things I could only find disturbing, and wondered how she coped.

"I have to ask you a question June." she said and continued-"how did you react the first time you saw the turtles?"

I looked at her slightly caught off guard by the question but then smiled at the obvious curiosity in it.

"It's slightly embarrassing." I admitted smiling shyly to her.

"Can't be more embarrassing than how I reacted." she said, and leaned against the counter of the island in the kitchen.

"Well-" I searched my memory for the first time I saw Raphael-"Raphael was the first one i saw. He was lying in an ally, bleeding and hurt badly." April's eyes widened slightly.

"I knew someone was hurt, so when I saw him I just stood there and stared dumbly. I don't really think i knew what I was doing, but I helped him out of pure instinct. I firstly reacted when we reached this place and I saw his brothers. Then I fainted, and later on nearly puked on Mikey." I laughed, hearing myself telling this sounded ridicules!

April laughed with me saying "you puked?" and laughed on.

"Yeah, like, my body reacted the weirdest way!" I said.

"So that's why you and Raphael are so close." She said thoughtfully.

"What? Why would you think we're close?" I asked her, slightly startled by that assumption. She looked at me strangely like she'd said something wrong;

"Well I just assumed by observation. I mean he targeted you in the game, and you guys were hiding together. I mean, he even gave you a nose bleed. He's never treated me like he treats you... And I've only been with you guys a couple of hours." She said.

I looked at her speechlessly, with a gaping mouth, trying to see the logic in what she said.

"I- um... You should've seen us in the beginning! We didn't speak at all, he even made me cry. I think he finds me annoying. He's never treated me as great as he treats you. " I said sounding sullen in the end.

"Really? He made you cry?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing down in disbelief.

"Yeah. He said I shouldn't be here." He admitted.

"That doesn't sound like him. Maybe he's just afraid of becoming to fond of you. That would make more sense, especially when it's Raphael we talk about." She said.

"That's ridiculous. Why would he be mean because of that?" I asked.

"He knows what he is, he knows what he looks like. Maybe he's just protecting himself in case the feelings won't be returned. What do I know." She said, waving dismissively.

"I suppose none of them has ever had a girlfriend before?" I asked her.

"Not that I know of." She said and shrugged, seeming to be thinking about something.

"Breaks my heart when you put things that way. But I suppose it makes sense, although I'm not sure you're right about Raphael." Even though I was sceptic about her theory, it was kind of flattering to hear her observation. I wanted to ask her if she'd ever felt anything for one of the turtles, but decided to let the touchy subject be.

"So, how did you react the first time you met them?" I asked her.

"Well, my story is more embarrassing than yours. Donny was holding me in his arms the first time I saw them, well he was the first one I saw... And I screamed at him." She admitted, looking slightly sad.

I widened my eyes at the image in my thoughts, chuckled to ease the sad mood that suddenly had set.

"He's saved me a lot of times." She added dreamily.

"I can't believe you screamed." I said chuckling, but I supposed everyone has some kind of reaction to them.

We continued to chat until dinner time, and everyone gathered for the new food. I in particular enjoyed not having pizza for once, although Mikey was good at hiding his disappointment that we didn't get homemade pizza. After that Donny and I helped April with the dishes as the turtles didn't have any dishwasher. It had become late all of a sudden, as the mood had been high around the table. It was like a little family gathering as I'd never experienced before, and for the first time since coming here really felt like I was becoming a part of the group.

As silence had fallen upon the group and each turtle had retracted to their own doing, I remembered the conversation I'd had with Splinter earlier and decided to go to Donny to find that book he'd been talking about. Inside his lab I found him and April going through some books together to find whatever, and asked him if he had the book about acupressure.

"Um, actually Raphael has all the books about acupressure and energy." he said, seeming to search his memory.

"Of course. Well, thanks anyway." I said with a sigh, receiving a funny look from April, who seemed to enjoy the coincidences between me and Raphael.

"No problem June. I think he's in his room." Donny said enthusiastically.

"I know." I said, trying not to roll my eyes as I left his lab again.

Standing in front of Raphael's door gave me a nervous feeling inside. I knocked twice, and opened his door slowly to peep in. He looked up from a comic he was reading, his eyes resting on me for a second before returning to the comic.

"Oh it's you. Almost thought it was Donny with the way you knocked." he said casually.

"Right... Do you have the acupressure book?" I asked, peeping around his room and closing the door behind me.

He looked up at his shelves searchingly and then pointed to the right.

"It's right there." He said, and returned to his comic.

I went to find the book where he had pointed to, not able to forget what April had said about us. I didn't know much about him or what turmoils he walked around with inside, and wondered if now was the time to ask him about their fights. Splinter had mentioned that they could return home injured, and it had made me really curious about what they experienced and how they coped with it. Nonetheless I did feel close to Raphael despite the fact that we never talked, and wanted to now more about him. I found the book and pulled it out, flipping through the pages once to see what kind of book it was, and also to man myself up to ask him that question.

"Raphael?" I said, and moved to sit on his bed, while looking shyly at the book in my hands.

I didn't know how to ask him this question and felt kind of awkward and embarrassed about it.

"Yeah?" He said, peeping up from his book with a suspicious glare as I sat down on his bed.

"I just wanna ask you a question, but it's kind of personal." I said, sweeping my feet up on the bed and crossed my legs, my eyes flickering insecurely up at him.

He frowned confused and put the comic down when he saw how uncomfortable I was and waited for me to go on.

"If you don't want to answer it's fine!" I warned before hand, only to see him deepening his frown and growing impatient.

"Right..." I fidgeted with my hands searching for the right way to ask him, but dropped it as it only made me more nervous-"Have you ever killed somebody?"

The question seemed to startle him a bit as he blinked a couple of times while comprehending the question. His eyes seemed to search mine as I realized how serious that question was to him. He didn't know if I was going to distrust them if he answered yes to the question. I regretted asking immediately, and bit my lip and looked away from his ever intense gaze.

"Yes, I have." he answered, his voice carefully calm.

A shock ran through me at the answer, and I could barely comprehend how serious that was. If it had been any other man telling me that, I would've been leaving the room immediately.

"Wow." was the only thing my stupid mind could come up with as I starred at him.

"How?" I asked quietly, still giving myself mental slaps for sounding so unintelligent.

"What do you mean 'how'? I spear them with my sais or beat them!" He growled.

I lowered my head slightly at his tone, feeling I had offended or crossed a barrier.

"Oh... That's... Wild." I was a bit lost for words, but still made sure not to use the wrong ones.

"Yeah, well we're used to it by now." He said, looking away from me with a strange moody expression, like he was regretting snapping at me.

I moved slightly closer to him, trying to be strong about this and searched for his avoiding eyes.

"How do you guys cope with it?" I asked concerned.

"We just cope. I mean we only kill bad guys." he said, still stubbornly avoiding my eyes.

"Yeah, but it must still be hard. Is that why you're always so easily angered?" I asked.

His eyes snapped to me fiercely as if I'd hid a touchy subject, and he scowled at me, even though I held his gaze strongly.

"No... And I'm not easily angered!" He said as if it was a matter of fact and a weird question.

His eyes softened slightly under my concerned gaze and he looked away again.

"Sure... You know, I still like you even when you're angry. Even when you make my nose bleed." I said, not realizing what I was saying before it was too late.

I frowned at myself, not sure if I said that because I meant or because I felt like he needed to hear it. He looked at me almost stunned, his eyes wide and softened in a way I had only seen when I'd thrown that compliment at him about his body when we first met. He'd uncrossed his arms as he looked at me almost dazed like he'd let go of every facade he'd ever had towards me.

"I like you just as much as I like Mikey." I said, subtly pointing out that I didn't mean 'like' in that way.

He seemed to snap slightly out of it, blinked a couple of times before he smirked playfully at me. I chuckled at him;

"As you can see, that took me a bit off guard." he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

He looked cute when he did that and showed another more carefree side of himself.

"Uh yeah I could definitely see that." I said with wide eyes, exaggerating my expression.

"Shut up." He said playfully and reached out to pinch me at a pressure point.

I turned away instinctively, and he followed to fulfill what he was set to do. I laid down on my back, knowing I wasn't quick enough to get out of the bed and instead put my feet to his plastron to stop him. He stopped, looking at me like I was stupid;

"You do know that there's pressure point everywhere on the body, right?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

I retracted my foot before he could grab it and leaped up and forward and grabbed his wrists, tilting the heavy hot-head backwards. I was a bit shocked at having the upper hand so easily, finding myself straddling him between my legs, as he leaned against the headboard of the bed. He saw my confused expression and laughed abruptly at me.

"You didn't expect that at all." He said in between a laugh.

I didn't quite get the humor, but for a martial arts guy it must've looked funny. A short laugh escaped my mouth as I smilingly looked at him, for once seeing him having a good time that involved me. Now would be a good time to give him that grateful, comforting hug I'd been urging to give him for some time.

Keeping in mind that I was about to ruin a great moment, I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, leaning fully into him in a warm embrace. He stopped laughing immediately as I'd taken him by surprise and I waited for him to pull me away. I fought a gasp when I felt his arms move around me, pulling me closer against his hard stomach. I let the gasp out in a sigh, overwhelmed with a feeling of butterflies fluttering up in my stomach all the way up to my head. I snuggled into his neck in relief whispering in his ear:

"Thank you for keeping me safe."

**Raphael's P.O.V**

He fought a shiver at June's breath in his neck that sent pleasant shivers down his spine. She was constantly taking him by surprise this day, and this had been beyond his imagination. It was like there was an unspoken understanding shared between them in the hug, and he felt how it made him sentimental. He couldn't hug her soft feminine body close enough to him. He breathed in the fruity scent of her hair, starting to bite his lip at the desire starting to build in him at feeling her body against his, and her thighs straddling him.

Enjoying the moment to the fullest, he forced himself to pull away as the attraction grew higher. He couldn't allow himself to feel attracted this way, not when was the only cure to get rid of it.

"No problem." He said with a smile as soon as he could see her face again.

She smiled back sheepishly, chuckling with a hint of red coloring her cheeks.

"Yeah it is. I know it has been to you and I just want you to know I'm grateful for it." she said.

He gave her scowl, telling her to stop talking and gently moved her off of him.

"Did you get the book?" he asked, purposely trying to get off of the subject as he slit the walls up again.

"Um, yeah." She said, searching around the bed for the book.

"Good. You can learn a lot of things from it." He said, seeing her look slightly broken by him avoiding the sentimental moment that had been shared between them.

"That's cool. Well, thanks for talking with me. I'll see you tomorrow." She said, her blue eyes glimmering at him trying futilely to hide the fact that she was slightly startled by leaving so suddenly.

"Right, sleep well nosebleed." He said, flashing her a teasing smile to lighten the mood.

"You too." She said, smiling back at him before opening the door and leaving.

He sighed heavily as she closed the door, and relaxed into his bed thoughtfully. How could a simple hug from a girl make his body go so rigid? Seeing girls on the street or thinking about them usually did nothing for him, but with June it was like there was a lot of excitement and feelings attached that made him unable to suppress any desires he had ever had, and that was few. He mostly just wanted to fight and train... He could only compare the feeling she brought to what it felt like to head first into a fight and go berserk. Except he couldn't go berserk. He was still set on the fact that him and his brothers could never find a girl who would love them back, and with that he pulled out his comic book and started reading again

* * *

_I hope I'll be able to post again soon, as this story is currently taking much of my time, and I have some other stories waiting for new chapters too! But I hope you liked it so far :) _


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